Another national disaster declared for South Africa

The National Disaster Management Centre in South Africa has declared another National Disaster.

Dr Bongani Elias Sithole, the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre, declared the national disaster due to the loss of life from poor food safety practices in the country.

Sithole received reports from several organs of state and made his decision after assessing the magnitude and severity of the foodborne illness that emanates from or may still emanate from poor food safety practices in the country.

These poor food safety practices have led to deaths and serious illnesses across the country, which resulted in the classification as a National Disaster in terms of section 23(1)(b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002.

As per legislation, the primary responsibility to coordinate and manage this disaster lies with the National Executive.

“In addition, I hereby… call upon organs of state to further strengthen their support to the existing structures to implement their contingency arrangements and legislative mandates to ensure that measures are put in place to enable the National Executive to effectively deal with the effects of this disaster,” said Sithole.

He has encouraged organs of state, the private sector, communities and individuals to improve their practice of risk avoidance behaviour through their adherence to food safety legislation, standards and procedures;

He has also called on the National Executive, respective Provincial Executives and the respective Municipal Councils to implement a multisectoral relief and rehabilitation plan to deal with the disaster.

All organs of the state will also need to prepare and submit progress reports to monitor the response initiatives.

The classification of a National Disaster follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on Friday, 15 November, where he outlined the plans to get all spaza shops in the country registered within 21 days.

Unregistered spaza shops that do not meet health standards are set to be closed.

Ramaphosa’s plan comes after 890 incidents of food-borne illnesses have been reported nationwide, with Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal (the two most populated provinces) reporting the most.

Second in a week

The latest National Disaster is the second one in as many weeks.

Last week, Sithole declared a national disaster following severe floods and storms that caused extensive damage in seven provinces.

Sithole said that disruptive weather between October 22 and 29 affected the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Limpopo, North West, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga provinces.

These storms resulted in major damage to infrastructure, property, and the environment while also interrupting essential services.

The Eastern Cape was notably hit, with at least ten deaths and hundreds of people being displaced.

Recent months have seen a series of unusual and destructive weather across South Africa, with unseasonal snowfall disrupting major transportation routes in September.

November also saw a huge snowfall—the first of its magnitude in 85 years.

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