“Therefore, we are calling on all people and those who are in authority and those that can help to actually change the set-up that we have in KZN and also in the northern part of the Eastern Cape because we are going to be experiencing this more and more and to say let us warn in terms of choices of places where they are going to build their homes, assisting people before disasters strike.
“Let me start with COVID, during COVID the first thing that happened is that our clients were not considered for assistance because their documents were not the same as South Africans. Some of them were undocumented. People we work with are seen as not in need of assistance.
The humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has had many years’ experience worldwide providing assistance in the wake of disasters. The organisation’s Imtiaz Sooliman explains what assistance they have provided after the floods in KwaZulu-Natal. “In Tongaat and LA Mercy, we drilled 15 boreholes there already and also in other areas that did not have water even prior to the floods, in parts of Verulam, Umzinto, Harding and upgrading schools that have been damaged, cleaning the stormwater drain in the schools. The health department has asked us for assistance, R180 million worth of damage to health facilities and also to the M4 the community has got together to try and rebuild the bridge and using us to facilitate for that.
Meanwhile, Doctor Khosi Kubeka from the University of Cape Town called on the youth to be actively get involved in programmes aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change.