Scores of displaced residents have been sheltered at a local church. Learning and teaching have been affected in the disaster-stricken area with several roads inaccessible due to the sludge.Some say they are relieved they managed to escape unhurtOne of the distraught residents, Mpoi Ntaitsane claims that the family residence and agricultural implements have been washed away, among other things.
“At the moment what we can account for is we lost a vehicle, we lost pretty much everything that was in the garage, the entire garage is gone. Parts of the house are also gone. So I’ve lost livestock, implements and I’ve lost tools for my stock as well. There’s no account, our clothes everything literally nothing, so now we are just back to try to see what is in it that we can salvage.
“And so, we will provide the feeding for those families and also clothing is in need as everything has been washed under the sludge. So, we will also provide clothing. Apart from the communities, there will be aspect of families. This is the biggest humanitarian crisis at the moment. Because the sheep are unable to eat, the grass or anything from the ground it’s been contaminated. So we are looking at providing food and the farmers have been calling for us to assist them,” said Conradie.
Ramaphosa appealed to residents not to lose hope as the government is doing everything in its power to restore the dignity of the people. Ramaphosa told the affected residents that the government will work tirelessly to rebuild destroyed houses. “We are here to come and help and pledge support and help the people of Jagersfontein. So, we are grateful for that, so in the end, you are going to have three layers of government, you’re going to have national government, as you can see, we are here. You’re going to have the provincial government, they geared into action immediately. I was very impressed with Mrs Ntombela as she acted fast with her MEC,” said Ramaphosa.
Really...? Can we see the results of their stability monitoring?