Enhancing disaster response in KwaZulu-Natal through community partnerships
Image: Disaster management report
The KwaZulu-Natal government does not have sufficient resources to manage disasters in the province, so they have engaged in many Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with various social partners to assist.
These partnerships promote an inclusive, well-coordinated, and responsive disaster management system within the province, remarked Dr Joey Krishnan, the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) acting HOD.
Krishnan was speaking on Friday, at a presentation to the KZN Legislature Cogta portfolio committee on the disaster management report.
She said the social partners assist Cogta with various types of support, relief material, food, blankets, as well as specialised training, and they come to the front when there are disasters. She said the collaboration was aimed at enhancing disaster management operations across the province.
The presentation to the committee highlighted grants transferred to the various municipalities, post-disaster grants, and progress on the grant expenditure and implementation. In response to ongoing fiscal constraints, Cogta has been instructed by the Provincial Treasury to implement cost-cutting measures.
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As a result, several Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC), projects have been deferred to the 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 financial years. Krishnan said that despite these constraints, a R2 million allocation has been made for the 2025/2026 financial year to support the maintenance of integrated communication systems.
She said that the cooperation agreements signed on 20 February significantly strengthened the KZN PDMC's capacity across all phases of disaster management.
The national DMC transferred grants to municipalities to repair damaged infrastructure due to disaster-related incidents. These include the disaster response grant, which is implemented within six months, and the disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation grant, implemented within 12 months. The total funding received by KZN municipalities between 2019 and 2025 was R4.1 billion.
'The PDMC also collects a comprehensive portfolio of evidence during project implementation, including business/implementation plans, GPS coordinates, photographs, reports, receipts, and close-out reports,' Krishnan said.
According to the report, the main challenges identified were compliance-related and implementation related issues. Compliance-related issues include the non-submission of monthly reports, the submission of reports that fail to meet compliance requirements, and the failure to provide supporting documents, such as proof of payments.
One of the recurring impediments to effective project implementation is the presence of internal challenges in addressing Supply Chain Management (SCM) issues.
Bonginkosi Mngadi, MPL Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) suggested that the portfolio committee receive a close-out report for the monies that are allocated to the municipalities meant to assist society.
'There is a tendency that when the money gets allocated for a disaster and the project does not get finished, only to find that the money is gone. It will be vital if we start managing the issue of close-out reports so that we get value for money,' he said.
Marlaine Nair, Cogta portfolio committee chairperson said that the department of Cogta must find an additional budget to be able to do much more in the province in terms of preparation for disaster preparedness and prevention.
'We have suggested collaboration with the private sector. After all, it is in the interest of everyone, especially businesses, that as a province we have the best possible plan and system in place when a disaster strikes. We are also concerned about disaster grant spending in the various municipalities and have called for close-out reports on the various projects. We must ensure that grants spent on rebuilding are used to build better,' she said.
zainul.dawood@inl.co.za
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