The declaration of a National State of Disaster, an elevation from a Provincial State of Disaster, will enable a coordinated and integrated response to the severe weather events – the heavy rains, flooding, landslides and intense winds – that have impacted KwaZulu-Natal, and to a lesser extent the Eastern Cape and other provinces.

This was highlighted by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, during a media briefing on April 19, following an address by President Cyril Ramaphosa the previous day.

Dlamini-Zuma said the floods were the worst experienced for the country in living memory. For example, over a 24-hour period, KwaZulu-Natal received 300 mm to 400 mm of rainfall. For scale, during its wettest month of February, only 120 mm was recorded for the entire month.

She said this showed that climate change was occurring, with the impacts already being felt – with scientists having warned that the eastern part of the country would experience frequent floods.

Dlamini said the floods have left more than 40 000 people homeless, with some completely destroyed and others damaged and not fit to be occupied without repairs.

There has also been considerable loss of life, infrastructure damage and an economic impact.

Moreover, while KwaZulu-Natal has been the worst impacted, other provinces have also experienced extreme rains, such as the Eastern Cape.

Further, the impact of these extends beyond the provinces affected, Dlamini-Zuma said, adding that it was, therefore, imperative that national government come on board as part of the response.

The declaration of a National State of Disaster will allow the primary response to come from a national level, and strengthens the response of all State organs to employ existing structures to implement contingency arrangements and ensure measures are put in place to enable the country to effectively deal with the effects of this disaster.

Dlamini-Zuma said government, as a whole, intends to deal with the impacts of severe weather in a holistic manner, through an integrated and coordinated approach across the spheres of government, by employing the District Development Model.

She elaborated that this model requires all spheres of government to work together and use budgets and plans that are integrated to deal with this disaster.

Moreover, she said the country must now “build back better”, with houses to be built on suitable land that is not prone to flooding.

She noted that building vouchers would be provided to those whose homes require repairs and the like.

Those whose houses have been destroyed would be moved into temporary homes. Dlamini Zuma said that construction of these should begin immediately, to allow people to be moved from their current places of shelter to these.

They will remain here while permanent homes are built. Dlamini-Zuma said that the identification of suitable land must be sought for this purpose.

She lauded the support shown by all South African thus far in response to the extreme weather events, from civil society to the private sector and government, and called for these to continue, and to further increase support.

Dlamini-Zuma expressed condolences to those who had lost loved ones and said government would continue the search for missing persons to ensure they can be laid to rest with dignity.

National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) Dr ​Mmaphaka Tau said the centre had reinforced the Disaster Operational Centre, which had been established during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He noted that the centre would be functioning daily to coordinate reports and to ensure that support was given effectively to provinces, municipalities and district development structures.

The centre can be contacted on 012 848 4704, 012 848 4705 or navcentre@ndmc.gov.za.

Tau said the NDMC had developed  a comprehensive plan to ensure it addressed all the issues relating to infrastructure, humanitarian issues, funding issues, communication and food security, besides others.

In this vein, eight task teams have been formed, that will be operational throughout the duration of the state of disaster.

A health and medical services task team is being led by the Department of Health, while a humanitarian task team is being led by the Department of Social Development and an early flood risk warning task team is being led by the South African Weather Services and the NDMC.

There is also a food and nutrition task team, led by the Department of Agriculture; a communication and community mobilisation task team, led by the Government Communication and Information System; and an infrastructure intervention task team, led by the Department of Public Works and infrastructure and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent.

A security and emergency search and rescue task team is being led by the South African Police Service and a funding, and monitoring and evaluation task team is being led by National Treasury and the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation.

Dlamini-Zuma said the state of disaster would remain in place for three months, as was protocol, and an assessment would be done then to see if it needs to be extended. There is an allowance to terminate this earlier if the need arises.

She also mentioned that the international community had expressed a desire to extend support, by requesting that government indicate what it needs assistance with. Countries that have offered their assistance include, besides others, Qatar, Algeria and Japan, Dlamini-Zuma said.