Some opposition parties in KZN blame lack of upkeep in infrastructure for flooding
This comes after 11 lives have been lost in the municipality alone in less than a week.
FILE: A business damaged by severe flooding in eThekwini and KZN's south coast. Picture: Facebook/KZN COGTA
DURBAN - Some opposition parties in the eThekwini metro municipality have blamed ailing infrastructure for the loss of life during floods in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
This comes after 11 lives have been lost in the municipality alone in less than a week.
The parties believe that while severe rains cannot be prevented, deaths can be avoided if government prioritises ageing infrastructure.
They have pointed to unmaintained storm drainage systems as the cause of devastating effects during floods.
"The municipality must fix infrastructure, these rains some of them are just normal rains, but they cause floods, what’s the reason for floods? It’s because our drainage system is not working," said ActionSA councillor, Zwakele Mncwango.
"It would help if we were able to fix our drainage systems because most of the water would be sucked by the infrastructure. But of course, these are natural disasters that we must all appreciate that they are natural disasters, and they hit where you do not expect, but the least that the city can do is to fix its own infrastructure," said Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa.