Greetings to members of the Executive council and colleagues.

Members of the media and the people of the Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape has experienced higher than normal rainfalls since the 8th of February 2023 resulting in flash floods which have displaced families and destroyed economic infrastructure in 6 districts of our province. The report of the South African Weather Service to the last cabinet meeting indicated that the cause of these torrential rains was the Elnino - Lanina effect, which was responsible for above normal rainfalls, and this was to remain with us until the end of the first quarter of 2023. The current disaster takes place on the back of the previous disaster of the years 2021/22 whose impact remains an albatross on the Eastern Cape government since this province was not allocated any funds to respond to that disaster although it was formerly declared with an assessment amounting to 1.9 billion rands. This background must inform us that the situation we are facing is unprecedented and we are in the worst position both in terms of our financial capacity and the state of economic infrastructure than we were before these disaster’s.

The disaster we are experiencing in 2023 is more devastating than the previous one and has destroyed both proclaimed and access roads, bridges, and human settlements in most of the rural districts of our province. The Chris Hani district municipality was the worst affected due to the displacement of communities of Silvertown, Gauteng and Thulandivile in Enoch Mgijima municipality and those households were placed in community centres. Most communities in Dr AB Xuma and Emalahleni municipalities were cut off from services like schools, health care facilities and businesses to sustain their livelihoods. Landslides were experienced in Joe Gqabi district particularly in the Elundini municipality affecting Bethania Secondary school and the public because the road was cut off. Water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged in most districts resulting in water challenges to the communities and the negative consequences to the tourism industry which affects the provincial economy. Tourist towns like Coffee Bay have been completely cut off and this again is very detrimental to the tourism sector and our efforts to build a strong provincial economy.

The magnitude of the disaster is such that our efforts to return the situation to normality is undermined completely due to the continued inclement weather and the momentum it takes for communities and infrastructure to be overflooded. We have submitted to the Inter-ministerial Meeting on Disaster, a request to involve the South African National Defence Force for them to provide temporary bridges in all the affected areas so that communities can be reconnected to services. Various government departments including the police, traffic services, emergency services, divers and NGOS like the Gift of the Givers and some political parties have been on the ground to assist distressed communities with groceries, mattresses, school uniforms for kids and various important goods and facilities to assuage their situation. Construction of temporary shelters is ongoing and road construction for alternative routes is underway although we are overwhelmed due to the number of roads that must be attended to and our own available financial resources cannot cope with the existing demand.

Our assessment teams are still struggling to collect all the information on infrastructure damages due to the bad state of roads and this delays our submission to the National Disaster Management centre however we are engaging state agencies like Coega to assist in this regard. The preliminary figure for roads and bridges affected is estimated at 4.5 billion and this doesn’t include all other infrastructure especially water and sanitation infrastructure that was damaged. So far, we have experienced 10 fatalities and 4 people are still missing. Our police divers are working hard to search and recover the bodies of the deceased and we would like to send a message of condolences to all those families who lost their loved ones.

We would like to advise the communities residing in areas that may be affected by the floods to please move away from such areas as the rain is predicted to remain with us for some time. It is already predicted that we may face a tropical Cyclone called Freddie through Madagascar and this may result in more flash floods that may affect this province. Our people and our disaster teams must remain on alert until this situation subsides.

We would like to thank all our disaster teams and volunteers who have spent sleepless nights responding to these disasters including all government departments, municipalities, and NGO’s for being there when the vulnerable needed them most. We are hugely indebted in all those efforts, but our work is not complete because we are still in the eye of the storm.

Thank you.

MEC - Zolile Williams

Source: Government of South Africa