In an attempt to provide aid to disaster-stricken areas, the National Treasury has allocated the Western Cape government R290 000.
This was revealed in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement documents released by Treasury ahead of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s mini-budget speech on Wednesday.
Godongwana announced that KwaZulu-Natal would receive R4.5 million, a large share of the R6m in supplementary funds allocated for disaster relief aid.
Heavy rainfall in and around eThekwini metro in April caused widespread flooding, sinkholes, mudslides and other destruction.
Godongwana’s department made it clear that South Africa needed to improve its resilience to extreme weather.
“Poor infrastructure, urban sprawl and lack of proper planning were major contributors to the devastation in KwaZulu-Natal. Many private dwellings are built with poor materials, and drainage systems in both rural and urban areas need urgent attention to ensure that they can cope with extreme weather patterns.”
MEC for Local Government in the Western Cape Anton Bredell said the allocation of the funds would provide relief.
“It will help.We had a lot of disasters. Since 2000, the Western Cape experienced 19 major floods and two significant droughts, with the 2018 drought and the threat of Day Zero still firmly in our memories,” Bredell said.
“Fires occur on a yearly basis, with the most severe being the Knysna fire in July 2017. In this fire an estimated 900 formal houses were destroyed, and 1 533 households were affected.”
He added: “Infrastructure damages came to approximately R5 billion. During this time the province also had to deal with the unacceptable attacks on foreign nationals in 2008 and the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022.”
Heavy rains in June resulted in many homes flooded in 100 informal settlements across the City of Cape Town. A portion of Spine Road, which runs over the N2 to link Khayelitsha and Mfuleni, also collapsed.
The road was reopened last month following repairs that cost R2.4m.
For the upcoming fire season, Bredell affirmed that his department was ready.
The DA’s spokesperson on Local Government Derrick America said while fire was a natural part of the Western Cape’s ecosystems, the effects of global warming and man-made fire meant that the danger posed to lives, property and the environment by runaway wildfires increased annually.
“The Department of Local Government has devoted R13.8m of its budget toward ensuring that a unified fire response is achieved across the province – a number which stacks on top of each municipality’s firefighting budget.”
When it comes to climate change, Godongwana said they would continue playing a role to shift economic incentives towards cleaner forms of energy.
“As announced in the 2022 budget, the carbon tax rates will be increased significantly from 2023 onwards,” read the statement.
“A paper on the design options for tax-free allowances under the carbon tax will be published in 2023 for public comment and consultation. Support for climate change mitigation and adaptation measures will increasingly feature in budget policy in the period ahead.”
Weekend Argus.