The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on Friday expressed concerns that, allegedly, only the Western Cape has received disaster funding from National Treasury, from a submission that was made by five provinces.

The committee said it plans to invite provincial cooperative governance and traditional affairs departments to brief them, next week, on the disaster funding allocation to provinces.

This after the committee was briefed by the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) team that a submission was made to the National Treasury for disaster funding for five provinces most affected by disasters, and, supposedly, only the Western Cape received an allocation.

Committee chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize pointed out that the committee requested that the NDMC share the submission it made with them.

“We believe it is illogical, unreasonable and unfair. We will need both Treasury and Cogta to come and answer the committee as to why such an irrational decision has been made,” said Mkhize, noting that this needs to be rectified.

“There is no way you can explain to the whole country that when we have seen floods hitting Durban and provinces being affected so heavily by disasters, only one province is allocated money,” he highlighted.

RESPONSE TIMES

He also stressed the need for timely responses to disasters, which he highlighted as a challenge, citing funding as the reason for this.

Mkhize explained that disaster financing needs specific attention to enable faster responses, easy coordination, and direct responses to deal with recovery in affected areas.

The committee heard that an increase in disaster incidents and damages requires investment in preparedness and disaster risk reduction measures, to better anticipate future disaster risk, reduce exposure or vulnerability and improve community resilience.

“We can’t fold our hands and wait until disaster hits, and then we just say we did not check for any readiness. This is very important,” said Mkhize.

The committee also urged the NDMC to brief all municipalities that may be affected by potential disasters in the summer season ahead of time.

He said dry runs to test responses should be considered.

The committee also stressed that municipalities affected by disasters must be part of any discussions relating to disaster preparedness.