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A view shows the remains of a building, which was destroyed during flooding leaving several people dead, at the KwaNdengezi Station, near Durban, South Africa, April 16, 2022.
The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has raised concerns after learning that of five provinces that requested disaster funding from the National Treasury, only the Western Cape received assistance.
Committee Chairperson Zweli Mkhize has called this decision illogical and unfair, citing the severe disasters in other provinces, such as floods in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mkhize has also stressed the need for quicker disaster response.
He says, “It doesn’t make sense to us, because we have seen how Eastern Cape has been ravaged by floods and KwaZulu-Natal, with a lot of houses destroyed, roads destroyed, livestock and everything, but they put money which will go and refurbish the roads, some of the destroyed houses in Western Cape, agricultural response. I think about R300 million for helping them to recover.”
“But the problem is there in all the provinces, so why does the allocation go to the Western Cape alone and then of course we don’t get an answer,” adds Mkhize.
PODCAST: Interview with Mkhize on SAfm’s First Take SA Programme:
