State of disaster declared in one South African province
A provincial state disaster has been declared in the Western Cape following widespread floods that hit the Swartland Municipality.
In a gazette from the Department of Cooperate Governance and Traditional Affairs, Bongani Elias Sithole, the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre, declared a Provincial Disaster as per the Disaster Management Act, 2002.
The Sithole decision follows deliberations with various state organs and the Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre. It was made after assessing the magnitude and severity of the impact of the dam wall collapsing on 08 August 2024 in the Swartland Municipality.
The collapse of the Dam Walls resulted in damage to property, infrastructure and the environment. There were also major disruptions to basic services. well as the disruption of basic services
“Emanating from the classification of this occurrence as a Provincial Disaster, in terms of section 40 read with section 23 of the Act, the primary responsibility to coordinate and manage this disaster in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements is designated to the Provincial Executive,” said Sithole.
“I hereby, in terms of Section 15(2)(aA) of the Act, read with section 23(8) of the Act, call upon organs of state to further strengthen support to existing structures to implement their contingency arrangements and ensure that measures are put in place to enable the Provincial Executive to deal with the effects of this disaster effectively.”
As per Section 22(a) of the Act, read with Sections 39(1)(c) and 39(2)(k) of the Act, Sithole said that the Provincial Executive must develop and implement a multisectoral relief and rehabilitation plan to deal with the effects of the disaster.
With this information, the National Centre, in terms of Section 23(3) of the Act, may evaluate whether the potential magnitude and severity of the disaster are greater or lesser than the initial assessment. Following this, the National Centre may be able to reclassify the catastrophe.
The National Centre may also, in terms of section 21(a)(ii) of the Act, evaluate the response initiatives by the respective organs of the state, the private sector, non-governmental organisations and communities.
All affected organs of state must prepare and submit reports to the National Centre as per section 24(4) – (8) of the Act.
Not the first time
Declarations of disasters in South Africa linked to flooding are commonplace nationwide.
In June of this year, provincial and local states of disaster declared in KwaZulu Natal and the Free State were escalated to a national state of disaster.
Sithole declared a national disaster due to the impact of severe weather conditions in the country.
The severity of the weather led to disruptive rains, floods, strong winds, and snowfalls in May and June, which caused major damage in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, and the Free State.
These natural disasters resulted in the loss of life, damage to property, infrastructure, and the environment, and disruption of basic services.
The declaration of a national disaster allows various provincial and national structures to collaborate to make contingency arrangements and more quickly implement measures to address the disaster.
[Image credit: GroundUp]
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