The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, has welcomed the move by the Executive Council to request the national government to declare a provincial state of disaster in terms of Section 41(1b) of the Disaster Management Act, following the unrest which left billions of rands in damages to both public and private sector infrastructure.
MEC Hlomuka was joined by Head of Department, Thando Tubane, and senior officials in tabling a comprehensive report on the impact of the unrest on the province’s 54 municipalities to the CoGTA Portfolio Committee at the KZN Legislature.
The report indicates that municipalities suffered R74 million worth of damages as a result of the unrest while the public sector (government departments) suffered R2 billion worth of damages.
“The loss suffered by municipalities could run into hundreds of millions of rands in lost revenue as a result of the commercial properties that were gutted by fire which will now need to be re-evaluated. This will affect municipal budgets and revenue collection. Similarly, the loss of jobs will mean fewer people will be able to pay for services,” said MEC Hlomuka.
He also expressed his concern at the toll the unrest has had on municipalities who were already struggling under the burden of the coronavirus pandemic which had already put a strain on their limited resources. One of the most affected municipalities is the Ugu District, where a large group of protesters gained entry into its fleet offices and farmers’ market and started looting and burning municipal property such as excavators, graders, water tankers, service delivery vans, an open bin-truck, TLBs, a bus, a VW Polo vehicle, offices, storage garages and guardhouses.
“This destruction of assets belonging to the district, comes at a time when the Ugu District is dealing with severe water shortages and the destruction of its fleet puts severe strain on its ability to render this essential service,” said MEC Hlomuka.
Similarly, within the Mtubatuba local municipality, disaster management emergency service offices were vandalised and burnt. “The impact of the unrest was that, in some areas, service delivery was severely affected particularly in terms of access to municipal services as municipalities had to withdraw services due to the risk of more damage,” said MEC Hlomuka.
Community service centres were also damaged during the unrest such as the Mpungose (Traditional Administrative Centre), CeleNhlangwini (Traditional Administrative Centre), Dududu, Bhamshela and Impendle.
MEC Hlomuka has committed his department to working closely with municipalities in dealing with the aftermath of the unrest and has already deployed senior officials from the department’s Development and Planning Business Unit to assist municipalities with the planning processes as the province gears up to rebuild the towns that were damaged.
