R42 million budget allocated to Gauteng Provincial Disaster Management Centre is of no benefit to Gauteng residents

10 July 2023

The Gauteng Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) has no control room to monitor any disaster that might occur, or measures in place to proactively address it.

A reactive response system is completely unacceptable and poses a risk to the safety of residents.

During an oversight inspection of the PDMC today, the DA found empty desks and no manager on site to ensure efficient operations.

This is cause for grave concern, as this centre receives a budget of over R42 million, yet there is nothing to show for it.

Furthermore, with the current cold front sweeping across the province, proactive steps must be taken by the PDMC to ensure that any resident who may require assistance is promptly assisted.

The DA is urging the Gauteng Provincial Government to learn from their counterparts in the Western Cape when it comes to disaster management. The Western Cape has a fully operational PDMC with a monitoring system in place for any disaster that might occur in the province.

The DA will be tabling further questions in the GPL to determine how many staff members are employed, who the managers are, and the role of the centre in case of a disaster. We will also be calling for documented standard operating procedures which include proactive and reactive disaster management response plans.

Our residents deserve a proactive government that continuously looks at ways of improving service delivery to the people of Gauteng.

Issued by Solly Msimanga, Official Leader of the Opposition- Gauteng, 10 July 2023