The National Treasury has confirmed the allocation of R516 million in the first phase funding in response to the April flood disaster that caused significant damage to infrastructure in various provinces.
In the wake of the disaster, which largely affected KwaZulu-Natal, President Cyril Ramaphosa on 18 April declared a National State of Disaster. Over 400 people died in the floods, which also damaged 4000 homes and left about 9000 people displaced.
The state of disaster prompted government to respond in support of the provinces affected by the torrents.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana reiterated that disaster relief funds of R1 billion were available as emergency relief over two phases in the disaster.
In a statement, the National Treasury said the first was the emergency relief and the second phase is the recovery and repair stage.
It said: “These disaster relief funds are available from four Schedule 7 grants in the Division of Revenue Act, 2022 (2022 DoRA), allocated just over R1 billion in 2022/23.
“In 2022/23, the Provincial Disaster Response Grant (PDRG) and the Municipal Disaster Response Grant (MDRG) are allocated R145 million and R371 million respectively; and the Provincial Emergency Housing Grant (PEHG) and Municipal Emergency Housing Grant (MEHG) are allocated R326 million and R175 million respectively.”
In addition, to these disaster relief funds, the Department said existing resources could also be redirected towards tackling the damage through the advancement and reprioritisation of provincial and municipal conditional grants.
With respect to applications for the provincial and municipal disaster response grants, it said provinces and municipalities were required to submit applications for funding through the relevant Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC).
“[The PDMC] then submits these applications to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), which assesses the applications and recommends to the National Treasury, the amount of funding to be released.
“With respect to the provincial and municipal housing emergency grants, these are processed by the national Department of Human Settlements, which after assessment, also recommend to the National Treasury the amount of funding to be released.”
The Department said as soon as any further applications are received from the NDMC and/or national Department of Human Settlements, the National Treasury is committed to processing these applications speedily so as to ensure the efficient release of these funds.
“Longer-term infrastructure rehabilitation and recovery costs that cannot be accommodated in the immediate relief grants and through reprioritisation of budgets must come through the budget process for consideration. These will be processed through the Adjustment Budget, as unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure or as part of the 2023 MTEF process,” reads the statement. – SAnews.gov.za
