Aftermath Of Deadly South Africa Flood, Causes And Reactions

For the last few weeks, South Africa has been dealing with the worst floods witnessed in recent history. Although there are many speculations on what could have led to floods of such a magnitude, a lot of support has been extended to the victims. This is a great relief bearing in mind that majority of South Africans and people all over the world have not yet recovered from the negative effects of Covid-19 pandemic. How are South Africans and in particular residents of KwaZulu-Natal to be precise faring on after April 11?

Rains at last

Granted that some parts of the African continent are experiencing little or no rains at the moment, KwaZulu-Natal province had a phenomenal occurrence. On Apr. 11, 2022, the area received over 300mm of rainfall within 24 hours. BBC states that the amount of rainfall received on that night was about 75 percent of the total rainfall received in South Africa in a year. That huge amount of rain alone was bound to cause flooding other causes notwithstanding.

By Easter Sunday which was on 17^th, the skies were still heavy with rain. All that the residents could do during the worship sessions was to ask for divine intervention for relief from the heavy downpour. With the rains halting, they could look for their lost loved ones, salvage their belongings and find alternative places to stay.

Aftermath of the destructive floods

As of last week, the death toll from the floods rose to 448 people but was revised down to 435 as it was determined that 13 people had died of other unrelated causes. Two emergency officers also lost their lives in line of duty. Scores of people are still missing and search operations are ongoing.  

At the same time, at least 17,500 homes were either washed away or completely destroyed. According to Aljazeera, over 40,000 people were displaced by the floods. The situation has also brought uncertainties on school reopening for thousands of children who were home for Easter holidays. The authorities estimated that over 270,000 students will not report back to school as expected. This is mainly because over 600 schools had been damaged by the raging floods.

As usual, calamities of this stature do not spare infrastructure and public amenities. Bridges and roads were cut-off for hours making movement via road a nightmare. Clean drinking water was also unavailable due to destroyed water connections. On top of that, people had to go for days without electricity due to fallen electricity poles and damaged power lines.

Unity in the face of calamity

After the South African cabinet declared the situation which was characterized by floods and landslides a humanitarian disaster on April 18, a lot of assistance has been offered to the affected. To begin with, over 10,000 soldiers were deployed to assist in the rescue and recovery mission. They distributed drinking water and tents among other basic things to the displaced people. The team consisted of electricians and plumbers who handled technical issues as far as water and electricity were concerned.

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Addressing the same issue on Newzroom Afrika TV station, Enoch Godongwana, the minister for finance said that an amount of $68 million was already available for emergency relief. Other international institutions were not left behind in offering a helping hand. According to africanews.com, the African Union made a donation of $150,000 towards the same.

Individuals also chipped in with their donations. Patrice Motsepe, who is the current president of the Confederation of African Football and a billionaire for that matter gave $2 million to support the flood victims. Motsepe who is also the founder of Motsepe Foundation was accompanied by his wife, Precious Moloi-Motsepe also of Motsepe Foundation and other dignitaries including Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini. During the visit, they encouraged and condoled with the affected families. As stated by IOL, King Misizulu was grateful for Motsepe’s kindness and had this to say.

“It is encouraging to see what Motsepe has done for our people. We commend his philanthropy, to lend a helping hand as many families lost everything.

It is disheartening that some families are still searching for their loved ones.

I am grateful for the co-operation that we have seen from the government and public sector. We are consoled by the formation of this committee that is inclusive of all role players. We must unite more than ever before”

Controversial opinion

The Chinese government also came to the aid of the affected families and donated $66,396 through its embassy in South Africa. The South African minister for Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu received the donation from Ambassador Chen Xiaodong. As much as this was a kind gesture, some people felt that China as a country could have done more. However, Xiaodong promised to mobilize more donations from the Chinese community doing business in South Africa.

These were some of the reactions on Twitter

Other social media reactions noted on briefly.co.za were:

“How can you say a donation of R1m is a commitment to rebuilding with the government, while an individual donates R30m? Remember there is no free lunch, especially from China!”

Tshabalala Moyo

“If our politicians had any pride at all, they should straight up reject this donation. Its an insult. How can a whole China donate that little? They don’t owe it to us and might as well keep it to themselves. No tender should be given to these so called allies of ours. They don’t take us seriously.”

Ndumiso Sikilongo

What could have possibly caused this disaster?

Current weather patterns all over the world are defying the norm and global warming is largely to blame. South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa was also of the opinion that climate change is the culprit of the recent catastrophe. However, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) was of a contrary opinion. The weather body said that the heavy rains experienced were typical of what is normal and accepted during tropical cyclones. It felt that attributing short-term weather occurrences to long-term weather changes like global warming was not correct to say the least.

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Some South African residents too felt that global warming was not to blame in entirety. Instead, they pointed out poor infrastructure and wanting drainage systems as the lead causes of the devastating floods. They also felt that roads and houses were poorly built which made them easily swept away. Mxolisi Kaunda, Durban mayor, refuted the claims stating that the area is generally characterized with hills, gorges and rivers making it prone to landslides. He also noted that some of the houses that were swept away by the raging waters had no solid foundations.

All in all, whereas infrastructure needs to be improved urgently, more precautionary measures need to be put in place to promptly deal with diverse weather conditions in the future.