Premier assesses JTG flood damage
The Northern Cape premier, Doctor Zamani Saul, and members of his executive council (MECs) visited the rain-ravaged community of the John Taolo Gaetsewe region on Friday February 05, 2021.
The sudden visit was ostensibly aimed at assessing the extent of damage caused by the incessant rains that have and still are causing distress to the communities of this region. The resultant assessment by the team will determine what level of assistance could be rendered to the affected community.
The provincial government convened a meeting with all mayors in the district with top officials from sector departments to obtain the real situation in an endeavour to find common consensus towards intervention.
The John Taolo Gaetsewe is the hardest hit district by the cyclone Eloise. Floods are the common feature, having destroyed roads and bridges. Most villages are currently disconnected as bridges were swept away. This has impacted negatively towards service delivery where the affected communities expect assistance from different arms of government and society.
Floods have logistically destroyed the road networks, homes and to some extent, disrupted the flow of electricity. However, the team was encouraged by sector department reports detailing devised means and ways to access the broader community, for example the Department of Health who has engaged an aero-care chopper to render health care services to those in need.
The Department of Social Development is providing temporary food relief to affected families. The premier and his entourage then went to distribute food to the hard-hit families in empathy and sympathy.
The premier assured the broader community that it had been a fully-fledged disaster that had left no one in doubt of the urgent assistance needed.
The provincial government will cascade the dire report to the intergovernmental committee on disaster management about the situation in the whole province, especially the John Taolo Gaetsewe district.
Pic :
Executive Mayor of JTG Sofia Mosikatsi and the Premier Dr Zamani Saul at the Thabo Moorosi Multipurpose Centre in Mothibistad necessitated the dispatch of relief food by chopper directly from Kimberley to the affected communities of JTG.
