DURBAN - KWAZULU-NATAL Premier and the United Nations (UN) head in South Africa will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to assist communities and entities affected by recent unrest in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC.
Premier Sihle Zikalala and the UN’s Nardos Bekele-Thomas, will sign the MoU which identifies priority areas where the province and the UN will collaborate to assist communities and entities.
The Premier’s spokesperson, Lennox Mabaso, said there will be messages of support from the private sector prior to the signing of the MoU.
He added that following the civil unrest, a delegation from the UN in South Africa, led by Bekele-Thomas, visited the province to assess the impact of the damage and destruction that left many communities and businesses reeling.
“The visit resulted in the formation of a joint UN and KZN Task Team. For the past few weeks, the joint team has been engaged in extensive consultations to understand key priority areas, which then resulted in the drafting MoU between the KZN Office of the Premier and the UN in South Africa,” Mabaso said.
“As agreed between the two parties, the immediate actions consist of an Emergency Response Plan addressing the impacts of the unrest. This includes the medium to long-term actions which focus on proactive measures to be undertaken that address the underlying causes of the civil unrest.”
Mabaso said the implementation plan was in alignment with the themes of the Provincial Medium-Term Strategic Framework and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2020-2025).
During the unrest 100 malls and shops were burnt or sustained significant fire damage, 112 shopping centres were looted or damaged, 1 223 ATMs were destroyed and 269 bank branches were damaged.
A total of 1 787 retail stores were damaged, 3 931 retail stores were looted or affected by the unrest, 90 pharmacies were destroyed and 113 communication infrastructure points were damaged.
In KZN, 45 warehouses, 22 factories, 139 schools, 37 delivery trucks and stock worth R1.5 billion was looted. The loss in both provinces from the looting amounts to R20bn.
Daily News