Finance minister Enoch Godongwana said it is clear that South Africa needs to improve its resilience to extreme weather.
Disaster relief measures in the ravaged provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape accounted for the majority of the revised expenditure in this week’s mini-budget. Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana is pushing out another R6.1-billion to support rebuilding and humanitarian efforts. This brings the total amount allocated for disaster relief to R7.1-billion.
Flash floods in the first quarter of this year, saw more than 440 lose their lives while thousands more were injured, millions of homes were lost and there was extensive damage to infrastructure with many businesses still struggling to get back to pre-April 2022 levels. Above-average rainfalls, which have largely been attributed to La Nina, resulted in widespread flooding, sinkholes and mudslides. At the time, KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala estimated the cost of repairing and rebuilding infrastructure alone at R12-billion.
Soul Abraham, head of retail for Old Mutual Insure says of the R245-million worth of flood-related claims received by 14 April this year, an estimated R45-million was attributable to homeowner, motor and commercial policies, while more than R200-million is estimated to be for speciality cover, such as plants, factories, specialised…