The devastating floods that occurred in KwaZulu-Natal last week have claimed hundreds of lives and left damage to thousands of homes. Thousands of people have been displaced. Many more are missing. The relentless rains are making recovery efforts even more difficult.
A week ago, the KZN provincial government declared a provincial state of disaster, but this proved to be inadequate. On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster, contending that the damage to the port of Durban had far-reaching consequences for the entire country. This enables the mobilisation of more resources, capabilities and technical expertise in providing relief, recovery and rehabilitation to affected areas.
The minister of finance (Enoch Godongwana) has made R1bn immediately available and will be approaching parliament for the appropriation of additional resources. From my assessment as a geographer and urban planner, the damage to road infrastructure alone will amount to nearly R10bn. Repairing the damage to water infrastructure and human settlements will cost far more and will likely take a number of years.
For this reason, the declaration of national state of disaster is reasonable as the province will require a lot of financial assistance for its recovery. But while I commend this swift response to the worst ecological disaster in SA’s recorded history, I cannot help but fear that the relief money will be looted by politicians.
History is littered with numerous examples of the shamelessness of many politicians in our country. Nowhere was this shamelessness more pronounced than in the looting of money intended for the funeral preparations of Nelson Mandela and recently, mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. High-profile politicians have been implicated in the looting sprees.
These include the premier of the Eastern Cape province, Oscar Mabuyane. A report by the public protector has found that Mabuyane irregularly benefited from a R1.1m tender that was meant for mama Winnie’s memorial service, receiving nearly half-a-million rand which he used for renovations at his private residence.
But nowhere was the rot more palpable than in the personal protection equipment (PPE) scandals that rocked the department of health in the Gauteng province at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. A Special Investigations Unit report provides shocking details of the hundreds of millions of rand that were looted by companies with connections to politicians in the province.
The report was so damning that it led to the resignation of the MEC for health, Dr Bandile Masuku, and the suspension of presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko. Both would later be cleared by the ANC national disciplinary committee, but the fact of the matter remains: millions of rand meant for the fight against a global pandemic were looted in the health department.
The looting spree was not limited to the health department. The PPE scandal extended to the department of education, where almost half-a-billion rand was looted by companies working with government officials. The department spent a staggering R431m on unnecessary cleaning of 2,023 schools – amounting to just over R200,000 per school. When the issue was raised with MEC Panyaza Lesufi, he claimed he was “shocked”, despite him being the executive authority in the said department.
These references make it difficult to trust that the flood relief money will be left untouched by comrades who have a history of looting. People who have demonstrated capacity to steal money meant for the dead, the sick and the dying, are not people we can trust to disburse flood relief funds accordingly. For this reason, I wish the responsibility of managing flood relief funds would be given to Dr Imtiaz Sooliman and his team. I trust Gift of the Givers far more than I do my own government.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.