Publications
Partners
- Mpho Phalatse hopes to get a response this week on the declaration of a local state of disaster.
- A storm earlier in the month caused extensive damage to Johannesburg's essential infrastructure.
- A disaster declaration will unlock resources to assist in rebuilding infrastructure.
The mayor of Johannesburg, Mpho Phalatse, hopes to get a response this week on the declaration of a local state of disaster after a major storm in early December caused extensive damage to properties and essential infrastructure.
Besides damage to roads, traffic lights, buildings, substations, power stations and pipelines, 15 bodies were recovered in the flooded Jukskei River after a religious event turned into a tragedy in Bramley Park. Police divers are still searching for the body of a three-month-old who went missing at the event two weeks ago.
At least one other body was found in Florida in a run-off stream when authorities inspected the damage to infrastructure last week.
On Monday, the mayor's spokesperson, Mabine Seabe, said the City was still waiting to hear from the provincial and national disaster management centres on the application of the declaration.
If a local state of disaster is called, it will unlock access to resources from the provincial and national governments to help recover and rebuild infrastructure.
Emergency disaster relief materials are funded by the Incident Management Fund, under Public Safety.
The storm caused approximately R300 million in damage to infrastructure, and the areas hit the hardest were Roodepoort, Hursthill, Northcliff and Lenasia.
Last week, Eskom granted a three-day respite to load shedding in Johannesburg after Phalatse said the City could not fix infrastructure due to the power cuts.
READ | Load shedding nightmare risks life of Joburg man who relies on power-operated oxygen
On Monday, Nickolaus Bauer, Environment and Infrastructure Service Department spokesperson, said City Power had cleared the backlog of calls logged because of the storm.
"We can confirm that all work related to the torrential rain in early December in Roodepoort has been dealt with," he said.
The office of Speaker Colleen Makhubele, with sponsorship from mobile communications company Vodacom, embarked on a three-day distribution tour to deliver food parcels, blankets and mattresses in hard-hit areas.
In a statement, the spokesperson, Amina Williams, said at least 339 families were affected, and there was damage to 104 houses and 54 shacks.
Relief will be provided in Roodepoort, region F, which includes the inner city and Johannesburg South, and region G, which includes Ennerdale, Orange Farm, Lenasia, Eldorado Park and Protea.
Meanwhile, as the clean-up is underway, a high chance of rain has been predicted in Johannesburg for this week.
