Question NW2345 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
30 October 2017 - NW2345
Mileham, Mr K to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
(1)(a) Which municipalities declared local disasters due to water shortages caused by drought (i) in each of the past three municipal financial years and (ii) since 1 July 2017, (b) on what date was each disaster (i) declared and (ii) gazetted, (c) what action(s) has been taken by his department to address the local disasters and (d) what amount has been spent on addressing the local disasters in each case; (2) What amount in funding has been made available to assist municipalities where local disasters have been declared at (a) national and (b) provincial levels of government?
Reply:
(1) (a) (i) The local state of disasters declared by municipalities due to water shortages caused by drought during the past three municipal financial years, that have been reported to my department, are listed in a table below. All the other states of disasters during the indicated period were provincial states of disasters, declared by respective provinces.
For the past three municipal financial years:
|
Provinces and Municipalities |
Financial Year |
|
Eastern Cape Province Joe Gqabi District Municipality |
2014/15 (January 2014) |
|
Western Cape Province Central Karoo (Prince Albert) Eden District (Knysna, Bitou, Oudtshoorn) Cape Winelands (Witzenburg) |
2015/2016 (November 2015) |
(ii) Since 01 July 2017, the following municipalities were declared a local state of disaster:
|
Provinces and Municipalities |
Period |
|
Eastern Cape Province Sarah Baartman District Municipality Nelson Mandela District Municipality Amathole District Municipality |
August 2017 August 2017 September 2017 |
(b) The dates for the (i) declarations and (ii) gazettes are as follows:
|
Provinces and Municipalities |
(b) dates for the (i) declarations and (ii) gazettes |
|
Eastern Cape Province Joe Gqabi District Municipality |
30 January 2014, GN3115 - 6 EC 2014 |
|
Western Cape Province Central Karoo (Prince Albert) Eden District (Knysna, Bitou, Oudtshorn) Cape Winelands (Witzenburg) |
25 November 2015, GN632-365 WC 2015 |
|
Provinces and Municipalities |
(b) dates for the (i) declarations and (ii) gazettes |
|
Eastern Cape Province Sarah Baartman District Municipality Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality Amathole District Municipality |
11 August 2017, LAN3893-118 EC2017 14 August 2017, GN13895-19 EC2017 04 September 2017, GN3908-180 EC2017 |
(c) Where applicable, the department performs the following roles:
- Conducts assessments and classification of disasters as per section 23 of the Disaster Management Act (Act No. 57 of 2002);
- Facilitates the provision of technical support and guidance through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA);
- Coordinates the funding allocation to address the situation; and
- Monitors the implementation of intervention measures as per the Division of Revenue Act and applicable grant conditions.
(d) The amounts spent on addressing drought and water shortages in all the municipalities that were declared a state of disaster were provided through reprioritisation process by affected municipalities, Provincial Treasuries as well as relevant provincial and national government departments. The bulk of the funds that were made available by the provincial and national spheres of government were for implementation of drought intervention measures with regard to declared provincial state of disasters. With regard to the recent state of disasters declared by Amathole, Sarah Baartman District Municipalities and Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality respectively, there are no amounts allocated by the department and spent so far, as the process for the drought assessments and disaster classification are underway.
The bulk of the funds that were made available by the provincial and national spheres of government were for implementation of drought intervention measures with regard to declared provincial state of disasters. However, it should be noted that the indicated municipalities also benefitted from the funding that was allocated due to the declaration of a provincial state of disaster as a result of drought, since they were incorporated within the provincial declarations.
2. (a) The relevant national departments contributed funding to assist the affected provinces whereby the municipalities that declared a local state of disaster also benefitted. The details below are as per the reports from sector departments as well as where my department facilitated funding:
Table 1: Funding facilitated by different national sector departments to address the drought situation
|
Province that benefitted |
National department that facilitated and contributed funding |
Amount and source of funding |
Financial year |
Type of Assistance |
|
Eastern Cape |
COGTA through National Treasury |
R29 million Contingency Reserve |
2016/17 |
|
|
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) |
R37.4 million Reprioritization from the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) |
2015/16 |
|
|
|
COGTA through National Treasury |
R8.6 million Contingency Reserve |
2016/17 |
|
|
|
Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) |
R4.9 million Reprioritisation from existing programmes |
2015/16 |
|
|
|
Total Amount - EC : R79.9 million |
||||
|
Western Cape |
COGTA through National Treasury |
R12 million Contingency Reserve |
2016/17 |
|
|
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries |
R6 million Reprioritization from the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) |
2015/16 |
|
|
|
COGTA through National Treasury |
R8.6 million Contingency Reserve |
2016/17 |
|
|
|
Department of Water and Sanitation |
R8 million Reprioritisation from existing programmes |
2015/16 |
|
|
|
Total Amount – WC : R34.6 million |
(b) The following provinces reprioritised within their internal resources to address the impacts of drought. The details below on Table 2 are as per the reports received from the sector departments in the provinces:
Table 2: Funding facilitated by different provincial sector departments to address the drought situation.
|
Province that made contribution |
Amount contributed and source of funding |
Financial year |
Type of Assistance |
|
EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE |
|||
|
Eastern Cape |
R95 million Equitable share |
2016/17 |
Livestock feeds, refurbishment and drilling of boreholes (Agriculture Sector) |
|
R5.9 million Equitable share |
2015/16 |
|
|
|
About R200 million Equitable share |
2015/16 |
|
|
|
Total Amount – EC : R 300.9 million |
|||
|
WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE |
|||
|
Western Cape |
R40.9 million
CASP, Equitable share & AgriSA donations |
2016/17 |
|
|
R5.1 million Equitable share |
2015/16 |
|
|
|
Total Amount – WC : R46 million |