-
A house destroyed by floods.
The Mpumalanga government has welcomed the declaration of a national disaster due to the floods. According to the local authorities at least R2 billion is needed to repair the damage caused by the persistent rainfall.
It is reported that more than 1 500 houses have been badly damaged in the province. Local Schoemansdal resident, Xolani Molimi lost almost everything when his single-room house collapsed in Nkomazi.
He says that his identity documents, qualifications and bed have been destroyed. Molimi, who works at an informal local car wash, says that rebuilding his house will be difficult.
“First of all, I’ve just seen the crack, and then I’ve decided to go to my friend. When I came back around four and I found my house damaged. And then I’ve tried to take everything out, but I didn’t take all of them.”
VIDEO | Mpumalanga residents are counting their losses after floods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4PKdLvunNs
Meanwhile, residents in Mekemeke say their village remains waterlogged. According to Noah Sithole, a local resident, some of his fellow villagers cannot even access the shops, and he walked about four kilometres to meet with SABC News in the neighbouring village.
“The situation is bad in our village, Mekemeke. Some people are stranded because their houses have collapsed, and the roads leading in and out of the village are impassable. Some people don’t even have food.”
Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu visited some of the affected villages in Nkomazi. Premier Ndlovu welcomed the National Disaster Management Centre’s declaration of a national disater due to the devastating floods.
“We want to welcome the classification of Mpumalanga as a disaster area. So, it will assist all of us to contribute and also nationally. We are happy that the commitment was made by the minister yesterday that they are going to assist us as a province because they know that alone as a province, with our fiscals alone, we will not be able to address all these damages that we are experiencing.”
Ndlovu says President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit some of the affected communities in Mpumalanga on Monday.
VIDEO| Billions are needed to deal with damage in Mpumalanga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfCnNVfyw-U
Limpopo is also experiencing floods:
