NATIONAL NEWS - Government has been slow in assisting the victims of the April floods which destroyed people’s homes and lives in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
This is according to Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, who released her first audit report on the floods on Wednesday.
While Maluleke commended government for assuming the responsibility to provide the victims with shelter and other necessities, she said the assistance was taking long to reach the victims.
“Government’s priority should be to urgently strengthen its disaster management capacity and capabilities, as disasters such as these floods are becoming more common due to climate change,” he said.
In KZN, where the provincial government undertook to build 1 810 temporary residential units, so far only 736 structures have been built.
“The impact of this slow response is that “residents and businesses in affected areas continue to experience hardship more than three months after the floods with little relief,” she said.
“In KwaZulu-Natal, assessments were not adequately prepared and did not enable appropriate planning and implementation. This poor planning contributed to the slow delivery against planned milestones,” she said
