By: Natasha Archary
The flooding in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has raised concerns over South Africa’s preparedness to manage natural disasters. With no clear plans in place to improve infrastructure and roads, the fear is that flash floods will continue to cause havoc in the province and country.
Kaya Drive with Sizwe Dhlomo questioned whether the country as a whole is prepared to deal with natural disasters.
Heavy rains have battered KZN since Friday, causing severe flooding and landslides which have claimed the lives of 60 people.
While evacuation efforts are underway to move people from low-lying areas to higher ground, emergency teams response times and an overall lack of urgency is being highlighted.
The impact on people’s lives
People have lost years worth of hard work, their homes, cars, and possessions, not forgetting the loss of loved ones.
Apart from that, the damage to businesses and loss of goods as a result may take months to recover if at all.
President Ramaphosa is expected to update the country on government’s response to the disaster but rebuilding what has been lost is going to take time and money.
Is there a budget for natural disasters? Where are the funds going to come from?
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Drive:
State of the country’s roads
Many listeners shared that they have little faith in government’s response to the disaster because the state of the country’s roads are a problem.
Bare basics like proper structural integrity of roads, lack of drainage, potholes and lack of maintenance have all been highlighted as mitigating factors that contribute to floods and roads being washed away.
It’s not just KZN roads that are affected by heavy rains, listeners shared that roads in Kempton Park, Midrand and other parts of Gauteng have all experienced water-logged roads.
Some listeners expressed that it’s not that there isn’t budget to maintain or improve roads, it’s just that the money is stolen or poorly spent.
Others believe South Africa is not proactive when it comes to dealing with these phenomenons and are more reactive and wait for something like this to happen before doing anything about it.
Also read: MTN and Vodacom working on tirelessly to restore connectivity to flood-hit KZN



