DURBAN - CHAPTER nine watchdog bodies have vowed to keep a close watch on how the KwaZulu-Natal government spends disaster relief funds in the wake of last week’s devastating floods.
A number of watchdog bodies, including the Office of the Public Protector and SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), are meeting today to discuss their oversight role in the disbursement of funds.
The meeting was confirmed by the public protector’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe.
“The public protector chairs the Forum for Institutions Supporting Democracy, which consists of institutions established in terms of chapters 9, 10 and 13 of the Constitution.
“The aim of the meeting is to co-ordinate the activities of these institutions as they monitor the implementation of government relief efforts in the wake of the KZN floods disaster, and to ensure accountability for the public resources that will be spent in the process,” Segalwe said.
Late last week, the SAHRC said the government should ensure that every measure was taken to ensure that all resources dedicated to helping affected communities and people actually reached the intended parties, and was not lost to corruption or maladministration.
It added that it would monitor the provision of alternative housing, food, water, health care and other immediate concerns for the victims of the floods.
Since KZN was declared a disaster area, and therefore able to access emergency funds, there have been concerns that funds aimed at providing relief to affected communities across the province would be milked by those who are politically connected.
Many people have taken to social media to express their concerns about the possible looting of the emergency funds, using the example of the looted funding from government’s multi-billion rand Covid-19 relief package.
Political analyst Lukhona Mnguni said it was not surprising that many people had developed a mistrust of the government’s ability to deal with corruption.
“There is no doubt that we have reached a stage where we need to think more seriously and deeply about proactive accountability mechanisms and measures,” said Mnguni.
He added that the Covid-19 debacle, in which some government officials had wrongfully benefited from government contracts for the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), was still fresh in many people’s minds.
The mistrust of government officials was echoed by University of KwaZulu-Natal analyst Dr Lubna Nadvi, who said it was not surprising that there was huge concern from the public and civil society bodies about how disaster relief funds would be spent by provincial and local government officials.
“There are so many previous examples of public/private sector monies allocated to government departments for relief work, such as in the case of the PPE issue during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, where funds ended up in the pockets of corrupt officials instead of being used to purchase much-needed protective items for health workers,” said the academic.
She said many believed that government departments could not be trusted to spend the money allocated to them for flood relief work.
“Without there being monitoring and oversight from civil society and section 9 structures there is no accounting mechanism. One can only hope that the culture of corruption that has developed within the governing party and some government departments over the past several decades does not rear its ugly head again in this situation, where poor and vulnerable people have lost so much, including their loved ones.”
KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala has meanwhile sought to allay the fears, and has given assurances that all the resources allocated for flood relief and the recovery and rebuilding process will be used in line with fiscal rectitude, accountability, transparency and openness.
“We want to emphasise the fact that, having learnt the lessons of Covid-19, no amount of corruption, maladministration and fraud will be tolerated or associated with this province.
“We want to assure our communities that all the funds will be used prudently, and that no one will be allowed to feast on the suffering of our people in order to line their pockets. Work of quality and value for money will be done,” said Zikalala.
He added that the government had monitoring institutions – including the Office of the Auditor-General – that were in place to deal with any form of wrongdoing.
He committed to acting decisively without fear, favour or prejudice on anyone taking advantage of the resources meant to assist needy communities.
According to the premier, once the damage had been assessed, all contracts that were awarded would be pre-audited by the provincial treasury, which would assess the work that would be done.
“We will ensure transparency as we did when we awarded contracts during Covid-19, in that we publicised the list of beneficiaries who were receiving work from the government, so we will once again do so,” Zikalala said.
Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the committee would meet this week and discuss the developments in the province and develop a plan to monitor the spending of public money for disaster victims.
NO PLACE on Earth is immune to natural disasters, from heat waves and droughts to the catastrophic floods that dismembered KwaZulu-Natal.
The perception of natural hazards as catastrophes is specific to humanity. What engulfed and shattered KZN is an event that is worse than any in living memory.
The entire country needs to help to stop the carnage – the province is reduced to a tangle of tree limbs and branches. Survivors are haunted by images of tangled corpses and monumental destruction of epic and biblical proportions.
Graphic images of a rampaging mix of mud, debris and vehicles and containers and buildings swept into treacherous waters has left an indelible imprint on our collective memories that will be difficult to erase.
Hundreds of lives were lost, and scores are unaccounted for. The lives were lost in an atmospheric upheaval by the dreadful wrath of nature, a painful event, but a crucial reminder of our obligations in the care of our environment. For when nature is disturbed, it strikes back in fury and spares no one.
The entire infrastructure of KZN was disembowled as the province and it’s institutions crumbled before an unparalled internal tsunami of water that swallowed everything in its path.
An event of this nature will probably occur again, unless we become more resilient to the increasingly violent weather. The apocalyptic scenes that we graphically witnessed are being repeated in many other countries as climate change and global warming alter the course of human history.
Flooding is arguably the weather-related hazard that is most widespread around the globe. It can occur virtually anywhere. People who have not experienced a flood may have little or no appreciation for the dangers of moving water.
The energy of moving water goes up as the square of it’s speed; when the speed doubles, the energy associated with it increases by a factor of four.
This is the enormous energy that was unleashed to reduce many parts of KZN to rubble and debris that defaced and mutilated the landscape over a vast area.
The mountains of destruction are testimony to the destructive power of the immense volume of water that overwhelmed KZN. This experience for the people of KZN was absolutely devastating. South Africa has not forgotten you.
The devastation caused will take years to repair. In the aftermath of this life-altering catastrophe, we as a nation must work together to rebuild not only lives and livelihoods, but also people’s aspirations for a better future amid such desolation.