Durban - Opposition parties have called for tight control of the R1 billion allocated to the State of Disaster relief funds, during a sitting at the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature on Wednesday.
This was after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana made R1bn available immediately to implement support measures to assist flood victims.
The floods have to date claimed the lives of 448 people, destroyed 8 807 properties, and left 5 119 people homeless, while many are still missing.
IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa said instead of the money being received with gratitude, it was received with greater cynicism as many people believed the funds would be stolen by those in power together with their friends.
Hlabisa said the trust deficit in the government was a major challenge in South Africa.
Hlabisa said this was not the time “to be eyeing enormous profits at the expense of people’s miseries, or looking for political strides and political mileage when people are suffering livelihood losses”.
“This is the opportunity to turn misery out of the floods’ disaster into an opportunity for swiftly uplifting our people and providing them with decent and dignified housing and other services,” Hlabisa said.
Leader of the Minority Front (MF), MPL Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi, said the R1bn given to KZN must be ringfenced and overseen by a multiparty ad-hoc committee for a year to ensure the money was properly used.
“The Nature Geoscience Journal in December 2021 published a UKZN study that revealed that further severe tropical cyclones could hit KZN in the future.
“The MF had stated in the 2019 storm disaster debate that the planning commission needs to work with our academia,” Thakur-Rajbansi said.
She said a skills audit needed to be done in municipalities, Human Settlements and Public Works departments, and conservation.
She said that in the past, the MF had asked for green specialists to be appointed, and the climate-change agent for KZN to account for the climate-change aid received.
DA leader Francois Rodgers said that with the abuse of Covid-19 funds, the question was: “Who exactly is going to monitor the distribution of funding to the tune of R1billion?”
Can KZN’s people entrust the premier and his cabinet with the proper distribution of this funding?
“As the leader of the province, the premier has a constitutional duty to lead efforts to build a non-racial KwaZulu-Natal through social cohesion, peace and nation-building. “Instead, he has fuelled the fire by failing to act as certain communities in our province are sidelined during their hour of need,” Rodgers said.
Zikalala said the focus was on reconstruction and rebuilding.
He said South Africans from all walks of life were tired of corruption and the theft of resources meant for the public and the poor.
Zikalala said the office of the public protector, the Human Rights Commission, office of the auditor-general, business, the religious sector, labour, community-based organisations and professional bodies were going to monitor the funds.
President Cyril Ramaphosa met the leadership of the Solidarity Fund to set up a separate bank account for the flood disaster that could be used by South African and foreign donors who wanted to contribute to relief efforts.
Daily News