National disaster declared after deadly floods in five provinces

A national disaster has been declared after recent severe weather conditions that have led to floods and a loss of lives.

Head of national disaster management Dr Elias Sithole said the declaration was made after he and heads of provincial disaster management assessed the magnitude and severity of the severe weather conditions from late December.

“[The weather] resulted in lightning, strong and damaging surface winds, heavy rainfall and flooding from late December in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and North West that resulted in a loss of life, damage to property, infrastructure and the environment, as well as the disruption of basic services.

“I hereby give notice that I regard this occurrence as a disaster and, in terms of section 23(1)(b) of the Disaster Management Act, I classify the disaster as a national disaster,” he said.

The classification means that all organs of state across the three spheres of government need to strengthen their support to disaster management structures and implement contingency arrangements.

They are also required to implement a multisectoral prevention, mitigation, relief and rehabilitation plan to deal with the effects of the disaster.

Regular progress reports must be submitted to the national disaster management office to enable them to track progress.

Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba has welcomed the classification, saying it will enable organs of state across the three spheres of government to strengthen their support to the disaster management structures.

“This classification has come at the right time when the extent of the damage to our infrastructure is becoming visible to all and access to some areas is slowly opening. We need all the assistance we can get to rebuild Limpopo after these devastating floods. The help we need from national departments and agencies would be made possible through this classification,” said Ramathuba.