Day: April 13, 2022

President Ramaphosa has told the people of KwaZulu-Natal that government will intervene to help families affected by the floods.

The coastal province has been lashed by heavy rain, which, according to provincial authorities, has claimed at least 59 lives and left a trail of destruction impacting infrastructure, homes and businesses.

The President is expected to visit at least five communities in eThekwini to assess the damage and to offer support.

Speaking in isiZulu to the residents of Clermont in eThekweni Municipality, where he visited a family that has lost four children after a wall fell on their home during the floods, the President said government will provide aid and relief to those who have been affected.

“I wanted to visit this area to see what has occurred… and I can see that [following the floods] this area is in a very bad state. A great tragedy has befallen you, one that we have not seen in a long time. The most painful effect of these floods is that many lives have been lost, people’s homes have been destroyed, streets, bridges and churches have been destroyed.

“We are here to see this for ourselves and to assess how government can intervene and where government can step in to help,” he said.

President Ramaphosa passed his condolences to the bereaved families and committed government’s support to them.

“You are not alone on this journey. We will walk with you. We will help you in all the ways that we can. We know that your hearts are broken because of what has happened but we are here to say that we are with you,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Today, 13 April 2022, the City of Cape Town’s Road Infrastructure Management Department has commenced with the resurfacing of a section of Durban Road between Frans Conradie Drive and Sydney Street in Bellville.

‘Durban Road is an important road link in the Bellville area, linking the N1 with the Bellville CBD. Regular maintenance of this key link within the road network is vital. I’m happy that the roadworks on this busy portion of Durban Road have kicked off successfully today. We expect the project to take approximately five weeks and ask residents to please be patient should they experience any inconvenience over this period. The team has communicated that neighbouring residents can expect some noise while work is under way. We will try our best to get the work done as soon as possible,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

The work forms part of regular maintenance to prolong the longevity of the city’s road network and will take place from Monday to Saturday between 09:00 and 15:30.

Traffic moving in both directions will be affected

Commuters are advised to be cautious and to lower their speed when approaching the construction site. It is recommended that road users consider alternative routes if possible.

Should anyone park in the vicinity and obstruct the maintenance work, their vehicles will be moved away. The team appeals to residents and motorists in the area to please comply with the signage so that they can complete the project without disruptions or delays.

‘We need residents’ support to ensure the project runs smoothly, and I want to thank all in advance for doing so,’ said Councillor Quintas.

Source: City Of Cape Town

Eskom Chief Executive, Andre de Ruyter, says the power utility will not be implementing stage two load shedding at the flood-hit eThekweni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.

Despite this promise, some areas in the KZN region are without power due to damaged Eskom infrastructure, which the power utility is attending to.

“By and large, our grid is still intact. We have some minor interruptions in isolated areas where there are some short-term interruptions. We have offered some assistance to municipalities in KZN to help with spares and maintenance crews.

“We have made an arrangement with eThekwini Municipality and we are not implementing load shedding at this point in time. We are ready and prepared to offer any assistance that we can to help KZN through this very challenging period,” he said.

Load shedding

De Ruyter said the power utility is working “as hard as [it] can” to return units to service and to attend to broken down generation units, which have led to the implementation of stage two load shedding.

“We are working as hard as we can to restore electricity and end load shedding as soon as possible. We apologise for this interruption to our normal services and I can give the assurance that the Eskom teams are working all hours of the day and night to restore supply and end load shedding as soon as we can,” de Ruyter said.

He said the power utility is down on capacity of about 13 663MW, which will result in the power utility falling short – by some 3 518MW – of consumer demand.

“We had to take a decision to extend load shedding… at least until Friday, depending on how the situation changes with units either returning to service from unplanned trips or potential further breakdowns and of course, that risk remains,” he said.

Breakdowns and trips at the power utility’s power stations are:

• A shutdown at Komati power station unit nine.

• A trip at Majuba Power Station’s unit six.

• An interruption at the Apollo substation, which transmits at least 220MW electricity imported from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power station.

• A unit tripped at Grootvlei Power Station.

• A unit was lost at Camden Power Station.

• A boiler tube leak tripped the Medupi Power Station’s unit two.

Furthermore, units at risk are in excess of 11000MW of power.

Turning to the power utility’s emergency reserve capacity, De Ruyter said Eskom is not currently burning any diesel at its emergency and peak hour generating power station, Ankerlig.

“We have been able to keep Ankerlig diesel supply stable. We have about 28 hours left at the power station but of course, we have to maintain that reserve in the event that there are further losses of more generation units. We have to keep a buffer in order to prevent an overall system blackout.

“At Gourikwa power station… we are currently running five units and we’ve got 35 hours of generating capacity, with diesel levels sitting at just over 83%,” he said.

The power utility’s water pumped storage facility in Drakensburg has 57 hours of generation capacity and Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme, which has been affected by heavy rain, has some 24 hours generation capacity.

“We anticipate that we will require 11 open cycle gas turbines to get us through this evening’s peak [and] again, we appeal to South African public to please be responsible in how they manage their electricity consumption. It makes a difference and it will really help us to protect those emergency reserves.

“We require, in order to provide for any unforeseen events, reserves of about 2 200MW and therefore we do need to preserve diesel and maintain our dam levels. We can’t simply run them to depletion and take a risk of coal-fired units tripping, which would then create a very risky situation for us in terms of the overall grid stability,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The City of Cape Town has issued the final race permit for the Two Oceans Marathon this coming weekend.

The decision was made following lengthy revision of the Two Oceans Marathon NPC event plans and supporting documents as required by the Events By-Law together with the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act.

The City is satisfied that the event organiser has met the requirements.

After extensive, albeit belated, efforts by the race organisers to properly consult affected churches, there is now a clear traffic plan for churches that will ensure Easter services can go ahead.

The City of Cape Town recognises the importance of religious institutions in our society and respects the Constitutional rights of Christians honouring their faith by attending church service on Easter as well as other faith-based activities that may be taking place during this weekend.

To mitigate the impact on any worshippers or other individuals going about their business, the City’s Traffic Services will work with marathon marshals to ensure worshippers are able to gain access to intersections along the route and ensure they are not unreasonably restricted in reaching their properties or places of business at all times.

Additionally, the Two Ocean Marathon board has committed to moving the event away from Easter Weekend in future.

Road closures for Saturday’s half marathon (Saturday 16 April 2022) are available here.

The road closures for Sunday’s Ultra-Marathon (Sunday 17 April 2022) are available here.

Source: City Of Cape Town

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Council has called for a state of disaster to be declared in the province, following heavy downpours that wreaked havoc in different parts of KZN.

“Declaring a state of disaster will enable the province to apply for emergency funding from National Treasury and grant authority to reprioritise our current budgets in order to address the reconstruction work necessary to bring the province back to normal,” said Premier Sihle Zikalala.

The province has been on high alert following heavy rains that started damaging eThekwini since the weekend of 9 April 2022.

The water level has been rising, including the river between Mega City in uMlazi and Lamontville.

The Provincial Executive Council, chaired by Zikalala held a special Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, where it received reports on the disaster incidents, including the effects of disaster response and interventions from the Provincial Inter-Ministerial Committee on Disaster Management, chaired by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) MEC, Sipho Hlomuka.

Zikalala noted that since Monday, the Province of KwaZulu-Natal experienced what is one of the “worst weather storms in the history of our country”.

“The heavy rainfall that has descended on our land over the past few days, has wreaked untold havoc and unleashed massive damage to lives and infrastructure,” Zikalala said.

Zikalala, together with MECs, Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPL), Mayors and councillors, visited different parts of the province to assess the damage caused, but also to pay respect to people who have lost their lives.

The Premier said that assessment to date indicated that many people lost their lives with eThekwini reporting 45, while iLembe District in areas including Ndwedwe and KwaDukuza reported more than 14 people who have tragically lost their lives.

He noted that the disaster has affected all races and sectors of society, including rural, townships, informal settlements, suburbs and luxury estates.

“Undoubtedly billions of rand worth of damage has been caused to homes, places of work, roads, bridges, electricity and water supply, and other critical government infrastructure. None of our districts has been spared, but eThekwini Metro has been the epicentre of this disaster with most of the rain and the worst damage.

“The municipalities most affected by heavy rains, damaging winds and flooding were Ilembe, Uthukela, uMgungundlovu, King Cetshwayo, Ugu, Ilembe and Umzinyathi,” Zikalala reported.

He added that some communities adjacent to rivers are still being cautioned to relocate to a safer place, and many have been evacuated and are housed in community halls and other areas of safety.

“Some rivers in Amawoti and Quarry Heights are also overflowing, and residents are advised to move to alternative accommodation. Stapleton Road in Pinetown was also flooded and motorists were encouraged to avoid it.

“The Amanzimtoti area has also been flooded and the City’s Roads and Storm water teams were in the area unblocking drains to minimise flooding,” the Premier said.

The Provincial Cabinet also visited a number of families in the Georgedale and Sankotshe areas, where some families lost five members during the rains.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will today visit the flood-stricken parts of KwaZulu-Natal to offer support to affected communities and assess the response of government and civil society to this critical situation.

Looting of containers condemned

Meanwhile, Zikalala has also condemned reports of looting of containers which were affected by the rains, as the raging Umlazi River threw them into the N2.

“We will not allow what is a tragic development in our province to be taken advantage of by criminals. Law enforcement agencies have been deployed and we call on all law enforcement agencies to ensure that all property is protected from criminality and that law and order is maintained during this period,” Zikalala warned.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Update on water releases from the Vaal, Bloemhof and Hazelmere Dams

As of today, the Vaal Dam will have five sluice gates open on Wednesday, 13 April 2022.

The fourth gate opened at 9:30 while the fifth opened just after midday.

This follows the announcement by the Department of Water and Sanitation to open three sluice gates the previous day due to the huge amount of inflows experienced because of the recent downpours.

The department’s Hydrology experts recommended water release from the Bloemhof Dam, which is downstream of the Vaal Dam.

And following the dire situation in KwaZulu-Natal, a decision has been reached for Umgeni Water to release water from the Hazelmere Dam, which is located to the north of Durban.

The department’s spokesperson Sputnik Ratau continues to caution residents living downstream to remain vigilant.

“We continue to call communities to steer clear of the dam as the outflow continues to surge.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and update the public as and when the information comes,” concluded Ratau

For more information, contact Sputnik Ratau, Spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation on 082 874 2942

For media releases, speeches and news visit the Water & Sanitation portal at: www.dws.gov.za

Source: Government of South Africa

The Border Management Authority (BMA) Commissioner, Dr Nakampe Masiapato, is undertaking a two-day visit to the Lebombo Port of Entry in Mpumalanga to unpack the country’s Easter season’s plans.

Dr Masiapato is set to meet with representatives from the Mozambican government to announce details of the bilateral agreement between the two countries in relation to immigration and border control issues including extension of operational hours at the Lebombo Port of Entry.

Among other things, the Border Management Authority Act 2 of 2020 intends to provide for the establishment, organisation, regulation, functions and control of the Border Management Authority.

The Border Management Authority Act 2 of 2020 will also provide for:

• the appointment, terms of office, conditions of service and functions of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners;

• the appointment and terms and conditions of employment of officials; and

• the duties, functions and powers of officers and to provide for the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Consultative Committee, Border Technical Committee and advisory committees.

Source: South African Government News Agency