Municipalities not ready for disaster management 

12 August 2014

In a recent reply to a DA parliamentary question, the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Department revealed that the majority of local municipalities do not comply with the South African National Standard (SANS) 10090: Community Protection Against Fire, which is the primary barometer used by municipalities to measure performance of fire services. 

Severe financial and resource capacity constraints and a lack of prioritisation by local municipal councils have led to councils not meeting the standards of these crucial regulations. 

This is putting the lives of people at risk, as municipalities are not properly equipped to handle emergency situations. It is extremely worrying and indeed very dangerous. 

All provinces submitted their district and metropolitan municipality information, besides in Gauteng where very little information was provided for the Cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane. 

I will be submitting further parliamentary questions to establish the reasons why the respective cities failed to provide any information. 

In the Eastern Cape all district municipalities do not meet requirements and cannot adequately address a disaster situation. Only the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality has the capacity to respond to veld and structural fires. 

The Northern Cape is in a critical state as only 2 out of the 27 Local Municipalities are equipped with fire engines and the adequate amount of personnel. The only reason cited is a lack of funding. 

Of the many district municipalities in Kwa-Zulu Natal, a majority of them have fewer than two personnel. A similar situation exists in the Free State, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces.  

The Western Cape was the only province to submit a plan on how it would go about addressing disaster situations given equipment and personnel shortages. 

I will write to COGTA Minister, Pravin Gordhan, to present before the Portfolio Committee on COGTA a strategy to address this urgent matter. 

In light of the recent tremors in the Northern provinces, it is imperative that municipalities prioritise disaster and risk management and acquire the necessary fire engines and hire more fire fighters to adequately address any emergency situation.

Statement issued by Kevin Mileham MP, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, August 12 2014

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter