Honourable Minister of the Department of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Mr Anton Bredell
Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town and the Dean of Research: Professors Ramesh Bhruthram and Renfew Cristie respectively
Distinguished co-funders of the (Disaster) Risk and Development Annual Review (RADAR) project represented as follows:
Ms Nasima Badsha – Chief Executive Officer: Cape Higher Education
Consortium
Mr Harlan Hale – Principal Regional Advisor: USAID Office for Disaster Assistance (OFDA)
I also wish to acknowledge the Implementing Agent of the project, the University of Cape Town’s Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme (DiMP), the project Steering Committee, various civic, municipal, faith based, non-governmental organisation (NGO) structures, development partners and community members in attendance.
It is indeed a great honour for me to be afforded an opportunity to deliver a keynote address on the occasion of the launch of the product of the first of its kind: the Disaster Risk and Development Review for the Western Cape.
Ladies and gentlemen, in his message to the development and disaster management fraternity (in 2004), Mr. Salvano Briceno of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction States that:
“Because the poor have few options regarding where to live and how to survive, they are the most exposed and most vulnerable to disasters. In addition, funds destined to poverty reduction and development activities are generally diverted to disaster response when disasters strike”
This assertion points to a clear link between disaster risk management / reduction and development and the retrogressive effect of disasters on service delivery and development discourses.
Based on our analysis of the current developmental challenges confronting our government, in my department’s budget speech held on 22 April 2010, we announced to the public that, in December 2009, the Cabinet approved the Local Government Turn Around Strategy (LGTAS). The strategy, as currently being implemented across the country, is a roadmap for local government practitioners for many years to come.
Many policies and laws will be based on this strategy. Therefore, it is imperative that all South Africans from all walks of lives should know and understand the LGTAs, as it is commonly referred to. The strategy has been further distilled into a local government ten (10) points plan one of which talks directly to issues of disaster risk management / reduction:
“Improve the quantity and quality of basic services for all people in terms of water, sanitation, electricity, waste management, roads and disaster (risk) management.
This and other government strategic priorities are further elaborated in the 12 government outcomes which reflect our government’s mandate as adopted by Cabinet Lekgotla in January 2010 and which is derived from the current Mid-Term Strategic Framework. It is on this basis that I signed a performance agreement with the State President on 29 April 2010 in terms of Outcomes 9 (i.e. A responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system).
Within this context and taking into account our broader disaster risk management mandate, today marks an important day in the history of disaster risk management and reduction in South Africa, the launch of one of the report representing a mammoth undertaking that reflects eight years of post-disaster research across the Western Cape.
This, being due to the fact that the Disaster Management Act 2002 (Act 57 of 2002) read with the National Disaster Management Framework (2005) calls for inter alia the promotion of a culture of disaster risk avoidance among stakeholders by capacitating all role players through integrated education, training and public awareness supported by scientific research, while also calling for comprehensive reviews after all significant events and events classified as disasters to inform disaster risk reduction measures.
We are convinced that the RADAR represents a key milestone to achieving this objective!
Ladies and gentlemen, as a ground breaking baseline for our record, the South African Disaster Management Annual Report for the 2007/2008 year notes that:
“Predictions are that by 2020, between 75 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to increased climate variability effects such as water stress, sporadic heavy down pours, to mention a few, due to climate change / variability. Agricultural production, including access to food in many African countries and regions is projected to be severely compromised by climate variability and change. The area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas, are expected to decrease. This would further adversely affect food security and exacerbate malnutrition in the continent. New studies also confirm that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity”.
From our reading of RADAR, we can deduce how costly poor management of severe weather can be, with total losses (inflation-adjusted to 2005 values), totalling R2.5 billion from 2003-2008, R1.8 billion of this being attributed to provincial departments and commercial farming losses (i.e. mainly farm losses and provincial roads).
Undoubtedly, these effects bring about destructive effects on human lives and livelihood services, infrastructure, the environment, peace, stability and public health all of which will have a negative effect on the achievement of service delivery and development objectives of any given country and, by extension – the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Ladies and gentlemen, while we have registered noticeable achievements with our legislative reforms, the institutionalisation and general implementation of disaster risk management / reduction in South Africa through the passage of the relevant policy and associated pieces of legislation, establishment of disaster management centres, encouragement of sectors, disciplines and other role players to mainstream risk reduction in their programmes, providing some disaster relief support following disasters, we have however not developed the requisite capacity to carry out sustained education, training and research with a view to informing policy and implementation best practices that would enhance disaster risk management /reduction discourses in the country.
It is on this basis that we are pleased to have successfully executed the Disaster Risk and Development Annual Review for the Western Cape provinces chronicling 12 disaster events that occurred between 2003 and 2008 by not only highlighting losses, instead highlighting the underlying conditions that either contributed to damage or, in some cases, reduced the severity of hazards impacts.
Noteworthy also is the fact that the RADAR report is the direct product of the collaborative implementation of the South African and by extension, regional and international policy and governance frameworks governing disaster risk management / reduction within the sustainable development context. Through its multi-sectoral / disciplinary model of implementation, the RADAR project serves as a clear demonstration of how the key tenets of Cooperative Governance coined through my department’s service delivery value, notably: Value - Based Change and Transformation - teamwork can enhance the achievement of integrated service delivery and development by combining expertise and resources.
We are therefore confident that the value of RADAR has been to showcase some successes with the implementation of the Disaster Management Act 2002 (and associated national and international frameworks) as well as to point to areas, in the study area, which are under repeat stress thereby requiring developmental intervention.
To this end, some policy and implementation lessons for South Africa emerging out of the RADAR are that: while we acknowledge the existence and effectiveness of the Disaster Management Act 2002 in South Africa, regional and international frameworks governing disaster risk management/reduction, there is still a need to strengthen sectoral policies and implementation guidelines to ensure the realisation of sustainable development thereby the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Accordingly, I urge all Practitioner and Professional Groups such as disaster management practitioners and fire fighters, Civil and Water engineers, integrated and spatial development planners, development, agricultural and public sector economists, as well as insurance professionals and international agencies, housing and human settlement planners, primary health care workers, social services and public health practitioners, teachers, adult basic education and training practitioners, community based and non-governmental organisations to draw policy and implementation lessons from the RADAR report.
My department, through the National Disaster Management Centre, will also ensure that measures are put in place to have a project of this nature replicated in other provinces of the country to inform disaster risk management / reduction measures necessary to realise sustainable development and service delivery objectives. In conclusion, I wish you all the best in your endeavours to achieve disaster risk management in South Africa and beyond.
I thank you.
