Ramaphosa’s empty promise to assist KwaZulu-Natal

A TRAGEDY of unimaginable proportions is playing out in KwaZulu-Natal as the death toll rises exponentially following weeks of rain and now devastating floods. Entire homes have been washed away, and more than 300 killed.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described this as a “catastrophe of enormous proportions” and he is absolutely correct. He’s also promised that his government will act “with haste to assist affected citizens”. That’s great. The truth though is that it’s really an empty platitude. What can the government help with?

In 2000, the South African Air Force responded heroically to the floods in neighbouring Mozambique, literally plucking expectant mothers out of trees. Now, much of our helicopter squadrons are grounded through lack of funds to maintain them and flying hours to keep the pilots current.

Our defence force should be putting troops in inflatable boats, building bridges and purifying water for destitute communities whose homes have been washed away, along with water supply and roads.

But our overstretched and underfunded military is already deployed in multiple theatres. There isn’t much left in the kitty.

When it comes to asking civil society to help, there is a growing reluctance because everyone expects government officials will help themselves to money meant for the most vulnerable – as happened most recently with the Digital Vibes scandal.

South Africa is a resilient nation, but there is a limit to how far this elastic band can be stretched before it snaps. We are fast approaching this point.

If Ramaphosa really wants to do something, he needs to restore our faith in his government by cleaning it up and then start drawing up plans to mitigate the worst consequences of climate change.

We will have more floods; we will have droughts. People will die. The question is what is government doing about that? At the moment that’s rhetorical.