The DA has called for an urgent engagement with the Director of KwaZulu-Natal’s Disaster Management Centre – a facility which falls under the umbrella of the province’s Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Department.
The move comes after an unannounced DA oversight to the Pietermaritzburg-based facility, which took place yesterday. Our inspection was hindered due to the absence of senior officials.
The DA’s inspection of some areas within the Centre also revealed a facility that is a potential disaster itself with only few officials floating around and no evidence of the high-level nerve centre that this is supposed to be.
Equally unnerving is the fact that despite severe weather warnings for large parts of the province, both the Director and the Deputy Director were not present as they were allegedly in meetings in Durban to discuss last year’s April floods.
The Disaster Management Centre is not involved in the rebuilding of the province and the DA regards the absence of these key individuals at such a time extremely alarming.
KZN is a province with more than its fair share of natural disasters and this centre should be on high alert at all times. Yet a written parliamentary reply, to questions by the DA late last year, revealed that the Centre is only operating at around 50% capacity with 17 out of 35 posts currently vacant, 13 of which are classified as critical.
The DA believes that this response goes a long way in explaining why the help that KZN’s people needed so desperately during last years’ floods simply was not there.
The DA will now write to the Director of the Centre to request a full engagement with him. We need to be shown exactly what happens at this centre and establish whether the shortfalls in terms of staffing and budgeting still exist and how this can be remediated before another crisis occurs.
As KZN’s only effective opposition, the DA remains committed to holding this ANC government to account. This means ensuring that the people of KZN are never again abandoned during their hour of need.