Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille, and her deputy, Noxolo Kiviet will inspect repair work undertaken by the department to state-owned properties that were affected by the floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Ministers visit on Tuesday is part of government’s response to devastating floods in the province.

The oversight progress visit follows the Minister and Deputy Minister’s visit in April this year following the devastating flooding in the province where over 400 people lost their lives.

One of the main state-owned properties that was severely damaged during the flooding was the Durban Airforce Base.

The department has completed all the repair work at the base and Minister de Lille and Deputy Minister Kiviet will inspect the work done at the site.

Following the visit to the Air Force Base, the Minister and the Deputy Minister will then visit two sites in Inanda and Ndwedwe where new bridges will be installed in communities as part of the existing Welisizwe Rural Bridges programme in the province.

The floods left thousands of people in five districts and eThekwini Municipality homeless.

In all, a total of 27 069 households were affected with 8 584 houses totally destroyed and 13 536 partially destroyed.

More than 630 schools were affected by the floods with 101 of them being inaccessible and 124 suffering extensive damage. –

Source: South African Government News Agency