Three weeks later, where is Parliament’s promised ad-hoc committee on the KZN floods?
10 May 2022
Note to Editors: A soundbite from the DA Federal Leader John Steenhuisen MP is attached here
It is now four weeks since the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal, and three weeks since the announcement that Parliament would establish an ad-hoc committee to oversee the response and relief measures in the province, and yet there is still no sign of this committee.
Meanwhile, communities up and down the coast are still without water, they have severely damaged infrastructure, and many residents don’t know how to access social assistance or how to claim for damages. The economic impact of the floods include a significant disruption of the City’s port logistics and rail distribution, with Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) having just declared a seven-week Force Majeure. This is an ongoing and critical emergency, but the responses from eThekwini Metro, from national government and from the Speaker of Parliament have shown no urgency at all.
In typical ANC fashion, the speeches and announcements were quick and bold. President Ramaphosa immediately addressed the nation after the floods and promised relief funds and parliamentary involvement in overseeing the spending of these funds. The Speaker of Parliament was quick to confirm this involvement back on the 21st of April, and the ANC Chief Whip immediately put forward the idea of an ad-hoc committee, which had wide support among all parties.