DURBAN – KWAZULU-NATAL Premier Sihle Zikalala has called for maximum co-operation from the communities that were affected by floods in the province last month, warning that protests and the blocking of roads hampered service restoration efforts.
Zikalala was briefing the media yesterday south of Durban after conducting an inspection tour on the repair work being conducted on some infrastructure projects, with Transport MEC Neliswa Nkonyeni. Some of the sites visited included the N2 in Umgababa, which has been diverted to eMkhomazi in order to allow for repairs to infrastructure.
Zikalala indicated that the temporary construction of a detour that would be within the N2 space had commenced, and would be completed by Friday. This, he said, would allow the flow of traffic from the south to the north, which had been blocked since the floods.
He added that teams were working around the clock to ensure that work that would normally take months was completed in a matter of weeks.
“As we continue the task of rebuilding our province, we can say with certainty that most road access is now open, and traffic is flowing. While there are still delays, they are temporary,” said the premier.
He conceded that while water and electricity had been restored in many areas, some places both urban and rural were still experiencing irregular or no running water, including areas such as Nagina, Ntshongweni, Ntshangwe and Zwelibomvu.
He also assured the province’s citizens that no effort had been spared in bringing life back to normal when it came to the roll-out of services.
“The government is attending to all service delivery complaints that are reported, and we urge community members to be patient and desist from blockading roads as this delays the full restoration of services,” the premier said.
He added that electricity had been restored in many parts of eThekwini Municipality, including the south Durban areas of Amanzimtoti, Prospecton, Doonside, uMlazi H and G sections, Chatsworth, Southway Mall, Illovu and the northern areas of Hazelmere, Phoenix, Ntuzuma and Verulam CBD.
The western and central parts of Durban had also seen the restoration of power. “Teams continue to work tirelessly to restore power in other areas,” said Zikalala. According to the premier, temporary shelters were being cleared as communities were returning to their homes, while temporary residential units were being provided on an ongoing basis.
The plan was use the units to accommodate more than 4 396 families that were accommodated in halls, churches and schools.
The government had made R1 billion available towards disaster relief interventions, although they still needed more than R1.9bn to complete the work.
The premier also indicated that: Search and rescue teams had attended to 542 calls. Recovered 62 bodies. Rescued 164 people, while 63 people remained unaccounted for/missing.
“As of today 19 113 households have been affected by the disaster, wherein 128 743 people were affected. Sadly, 435 people lost their lives,” Zikalala told the media.
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