Police Minister, General Bheki Cele addressed men and women of the South African Police Service Search and Rescue units from across the country who responded to the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal.
On 13 May marked a month since they were deployed to the Province in a race against time to save lives.
The rescue units made up of front line officers, K9 units, diving teams with various vessels, helicopters and fixed air wing planes, responded to the disaster, working cooperatively with local disaster management teams, emergency services and the South African National Defense Force.
These members who have been stationed at the Virginia Joint Operational Centre (JOC) for a month and have now returned back to their provinces. Police Minister, General Bheki Cele and National Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola along with SAPS management in the province visited the JOC and addressed the members on Friday, 13 May.
Minister of Police General Bheki Cele congratulated the teams for their commitment to bringing much need assistance to the people of KZN, he also assured the members that their service to the nation and the people of KZN has not gone unnoticed, saying while they did all they could with some resource challenges, many lessons have been learnt from the disaster and there now had to be a national response at a national level to national disasters, vowing to raise this issue with his Cabinet counterparts.
In his address to members, National Commissioner General Masemola revealed the death toll is now standing at 447, with 89 persons still reported missing.
He also added that to date, 854 call-outs and scenes have been attended to which led to the rescue of 165 victims that were found alive.
