The Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery visited Port St Johns Local Municipality yesterday as part of its three-day oversight visit in the Eastern Cape to assess the damage caused by floods in April this year.

Briefing the committee, the Mayor of Port St Johns Local Municipality, Ms Nomvuzo Mlombile-Cingo, said Port St Johns is prone to flood disaster. A climate change vulnerability assessment was undertaken to assess impacts and to provide information to the municipal planners to consider during decision-making processes. She said the study showed that most of the town area of Port St Johns falls within red (1:50 flood line, very high risk of flooding), orange (high risk of flooding), and yellow (moderate).

The mayor told the committee that the municipality mobilised all the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are the stakeholders of the municipality to assist the victims of the flood disaster in Port St Johns. Most of them responded swiftly and provided for immediate needs, such as blankets, clothes and food. The municipality asked the NGOs to hand over the goods to the people themselves to avoid the theft that often takes place in emergency situations.

The mayor told the committee that after the disaster, Port St Johns was inaccessible, as all its entry points were closed by heavy landslides, rockfalls and fallen trees. Although the disaster is the competency of the district municipality through its disaster management unit, Port St Johns Local Municipality assumed a frontline role by beginning to remove everything that it could that was covering the road into the town.

The mayor said the flood disaster affected the entire landscape of Port St Johns. Bridges were badly affected, making contact between people in different villages of Port St Johns impossible. This stopped economic activity, halted scholar transportation and prevented people from going to clinics across the river.

Municipal access roads are damaged with the cost to repair them estimated at R377 736 688 (618.2 kilometers of road). The R61 main road leading to town has collapsed and needs immediate intervention (Mpantu to Town). The military base access road is damaged and needs urgent attention, including a bridge crossing the Bulolo River. Roads leading to schools and clinics have been damaged and communities are cut off from each other. Bridge reconstruction will cost R82.4 million, according to the mayor.

The disaster has destroyed infrastructure, including toilets at Zwelenqaba Senior Primary School. A mudslide is still unstable and not yet removed at Ntafufu Senior Secondary School, PSJ Community Primary School, Lindibuhle Senior Primary School and at Nkangala Primary School.

The committee heard that water infrastructure was also badly damaged, resulting in the water supply shortage to the town and surrounding areas. The flood damage added to the problem of ageing infrastructure. The Mayor told the committee that Port St Johns has been without water for three weeks due to silted or blocked pipes.

In welcoming the briefing from the Mayor, the Co-Chairpersons of the committee thanked the municipality for the report and for its response to the victims of the disaster. They called on the municipality to continue with its programme and to continue with its written request for funding made available by National Treasury.

The committee visited areas severely affected by the disaster, including Green Farm, Mpatu, Nonyevu and Zwelitsha informal settlements. Mr Thokomile Ndamase, who lives in Nonyevu and whose house was washed away by the floods, told the committee that the municipality provided him with a temporary house while it works with the province to relocate the community.

“We thank God for our salvation from that disaster which blew our house away at midnight on that fateful day,” he said. He spoke about how the land on which his house was built collapsed. “We are recovering some of our belongings, such as beds, wardrobes, furniture and other belongings by digging in the area. We have recovered at least 70% of our things,” said Mr Ndamase.

Source: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa