Question NW2775 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
13 November 2017 - NW2775
Wilson, Ms ER to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
(1)With regard to the Edenvale flooding in November 2016, what are the reasons that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council disaster management vehicles only responded and arrived on the scene at about 11:30 pm and only after a councillor called the head of department; (2) (a) what resources does the Bedfordview regional disaster management depot have and (b) what resources should the specified depot have by law; (3) Whether the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council disaster plan was followed in respect of the Edenvale flooding; if not, why not; if so, (a) what are the reasons that the disaster management department took over six hours to respond to the disaster in Edenvale and (b) what additional support did the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council give the local depots of the (i) roads department and (ii) water department?
Reply:
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan municipality through the Gauteng Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs provided the information:
(1) Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council disaster management vehicles did not respond and arrive on the scene at about 11:30 pm.
Section 49(1) of the Disaster Management Act, Act 57 of 2002 requires municipalities to immediatelyinitiate efforts to assess the severity and magnitude of a disaster. Assessments are conducted in line with disaster management plans developed in terms of section 43. As per legislative requirements and disaster management plans, City of Ekurhuleni Disaster & Emergency Management Services (DEMS) Department`s operational preparedness and response to incidents starts when the first early warning message is received.
In the case of the severe thunderstorm that occurred on 09 November 2016, the first warning message from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) was received at 14:15 followed by another one at 16:32. Immediately after the receipt of the first warning, the municipality`s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) were activated. These SOP include notifying stakeholders such as the senior disaster management officials, station manager and councilors on the DEMS database about the warning from SAWS and informing them of the activation of the Joint Operations Centre (JOC). Following the occurrence of the storm (which occurred at approximately 17:00), Disaster Management Officials and the Emergency Services Station Managers immediately began to assess the impact of storm all areas including Edenvale.
(2)(a) Ekurhuleni does not have a disaster management depot and is not legally obligated to have a depot.
(b) Legally the municipality is required to establish a disaster management centre in terms of section 43 of the Disaster Management Act, Act 57 of 2002. It must be noted that the offices in Bedfordview are the headquarters of the Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) department that includes the Disaster Management Division and the Disaster Management Centre.
(3)(a) The City`s disaster management response plans were followed during the flooding. As per legislative requirements and disaster management plans, City of Ekurhuleni Disaster & Emergency Management Services (DEMS) Department`s operational preparedness and response to incidents starts when the first early warning message is received disaster management department.
(i) For the Roads and Storm Water Department, the City of Ekurhuleni annually provides maintenance budgets per region as well as per depot. In the case of Edenvale Roads and Storm Water Depot, the regional amount allocated for 2016/17 for Stormwater maintenance was R1, 327,000. The allocation for maintenance for the depot was R2, 124,000. For 2017/18 financial year, the regional allocation is R1, 381,477 and the allocation for the depot is R2, 200,048. In addition, the DEMS department made available R10 million (R10, 000,000) to the Roads & Stormwater department to rehabilitate some of the damaged infrastructure (i.e. Roads & Stormwater).
(ii) No amount was made available for Water & Sanitation department since the infrastructure there were no significant damages.