Durban — Through the Municipal Disaster Grants, R1 453 800 billion was made available to support KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, in addressing recent natural disasters.
This was according to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa following a written parliamentary question from the ANC’s Dikeledi Direko on the progress made in addressing natural disasters between December 2023 and February 2024 in KZN, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
Hlabisa said the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) coordinated multi-sectoral interventions in the affected provinces to ensure the following support is provided to the affected communities:
- Search and rescue mission;
- Humanitarian assistance and food parcels;
- Psychosocial services;
- Temporary shelters;
- Health services (medication);
- Replacement of identity documentation; and
- Repairs, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the damaged water, sanitation, electricity, roads, bridges, stormwater and public amenities infrastructure through the Municipal Disaster Response and Recovery Grant.
“A total of R1.453 800 billion was made available through the Municipal Disaster Grants in the 2023/24 financial year to support the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo provinces in addressing natural disasters between December 2023 and February 2024,” Hlabisa said.
Breaking down the allocation per grant, Hlabisa said the Municipal Disaster Response Grant was R269 328 million while the Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant was R1.184 472 billion.
Meanwhile, recently, former Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi revealed that before April 1, 2023, the National Department of Human Settlements had been disbursing emergency housing grants (on application) to provinces and municipalities affected by disasters.
She explained that in the current 2024/25 financial year the National Department of Human Settlements requested concurrence from the National Treasury, to utilise the Emergency Housing Fund to extend the lease agreements that are expiring (at the) end of October 2024, but this request was rejected on the basis that the unforeseen and unavoidable expenditure process is only applicable to disaster backlogs that occurred within the 2024/25 financial year.
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