Durban – The DA’s co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) spokesperson, Chris Pappas, has appealed to Cogta MEC Sipho Hlomuka and the portfolio committee to reconsider spending priorities in a bid to bolster, modernise and support disaster management in the province, particularly at a local level.
The appeal came after an oversight visit of the eDumbe Local Municipality, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, to assess damage caused by tropical storm Eloise, which revealed that the disaster management system was basically non-existent in the area.
“The DA is concerned about the state of readiness of the eDumbe Municipality to respond to disasters. We do not believe that either this local municipality or the Zululand District Municipality meet the requirements of the Disaster Management Act,” said Pappas.
He said in eDumbe, there was no local disaster management centre despite the municipality being high risk in terms of droughts, fires, heavy rains, lightening and high winds.
During the inspection they found that eDumbe’s Fire Department only consisted of eight firefighters with one old fire engine that was not capable of servicing the municipality. As a result, reinforcements were often called in from abaQulusi.
In addition, the chief traffic officer was also the head of the fire services, licensing office, firearms control office and the disaster management office.
“It is clear that years of financial mismanagement and lack of proper budgeting have left the eDumbe Municipality in a position where it is unable to adequately support residents in times of crisis. In addition to this, there are clearly tensions between the local and district municipalities, the result of which impacts on resource allocation and functional alignment,” said Pappas.
Cogta spokesperson Senzelwe Mzila said Cogta was working closely with municipalities to address issues pertaining to funding shortfalls and building capacity for mitigation and efficient response to disasters.
Mzila said this was being done in a climate of limited fiscal resources. A number of innovations were being tried including the shared service model to rationalise the availability of disaster teams to support municipalities irrespective of their resources.
“The eDumbe Local Municipality has also prepared and submitted a comprehensive business plan to Cogta to solicit funding for the establishment and resourcing of the Local Disaster Management Centre,” said Mzila.
“Meanwhile, Cogta and the Zululand District Municipality continue to provide technical support and resources to ensure the efficient response and recovery measures to communities devastated by disasters in eDumbe Local Municipality.”
SIDE BAR
Other findings:
- No volunteer structure in place.
- No long-term planning or forecasting around disaster management and disaster mitigation.
- A municipal budget allocation which does not nearly support the type of response that a municipality should be providing.
- Local bridges which have not been constructed in a manner that provides safe passage during flooding — a seemingly obvious design error that must be investigated.
- Discord between the functions and duties of the district and local spheres of government leading to duplication of work, wasting of resources and in some cases misalignment when it comes to who is responsible for which function. Victims are then caught up in the crossfire.