at the South African Emergency Services Institute Gala Dinner
10 May 2007
Programme director
Tshwane Metro Executive Mayor, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa
UGLCA chairperson, Father Smangalisa Mkhwatshwa
FIFA World Cup Co-ordinator of the 2006 Germany World Cup, Mr Andreas
Koch
District Director of Colombia Emergency Management Agency, Mr Darfell
Darrell
Southern African Emergency Services Institute (SAESI) Acting President, Mr
Lenny Naidoo
SAESI Chaiperson, Mr Tinus Pretorious
SAESI Vice-President Elect, Mr P Mosia
Department of Provincial and Local Government (dplg) Executive Manager of
Disaster Management, Mr Lance Williams
Department of Local Government Director Disaster Management, Mr Colin
Deiner
Heads of Department of Community Safety and Fire and Emergency Services
Chief of fire officers
SAICE Council members
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
In three years' time, South Africa will host the world's soccer showpiece,
the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup. Millions of people will flock to our shores to
be part of this spectacular event, the first in African soil.
Ladies and gentlemen, indeed! Africa's time has arrived. South Africa is
ready. Collectively, we are ready to host a successful FIFA 2010 Soccer World
Cup. Our joy at winning the 2010 World Cup bid became part of our celebrations
of Ten Years of Freedom. Preparing for and hosting 2010 has become an integral
part of the national effort to meet the challenges of the second decade of
freedom and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), helping take us to a path
of faster economic growth and job-creation, and of greater social and economic
inclusion.
Ladies and gentlemen
The rapid advances in technology and economic boom currently prevalent in
South Africa placed a heavy responsibility on emergency services at all levels
of government as well as the various industrial and private services.
It is critical that emergency service managers recognise this challenge and
rise to the challenge. It is of particular concern that the number of fire
deaths has risen from 192 in 2000 to 348 in 2005 and that the number of fires
occurring has risen from 33 600 in 2000 to 42 800 in 2005. It is also uncertain
if South Africa can continue to experience the severe financial loss of R1,321
million, which is almost one percent of the country's Gross National Income
(GNI).
In hosting the 2010 World Cup for South Africa, it means that a significant
improvement in the delivery of emergency services will have to be reached in a
period of less than three years. Emergency services is a critical component of
hosting a successful tournament and it is therefore important that conferences
such as this focus on what issues need to be addressed in order to achieve
this.
The government approach towards dealing with disaster issues is prevention,
mitigation and preparing for effective response and post disaster recovery to
any disaster or fire risks that may occur at any given point in time including
during the 2010 World Cup tournament.
This will be achieved in two areas
The first area will focus on disaster risk reduction activities as well as
ensuring effective emergency preparedness of emergency services from all
sectors. This will include providing input into pre-planning of infrastructural
developments, assessing capacity and identifying gaps of line functions to
respond to major incidents.
Monitoring and evaluating the state of preparedness of facilities for 2010
and effective response to major incidents and disasters which will entail the
development of effective response plans, ensuring the implementation of line
function response plans, testing and training through desktop exercises of
response plans and the recruitment and training of emergency service
volunteers.
The second area will focus on the development of capacity to deal with major
disasters that may occur during the hosting of the event.
This includes the development of a provincial wide strategy to include the
following:
* Hazardous chemical and biological response system that should be able to
respond to incidents involving the accidental/planned release of hazardous
chemicals into the environment which may pose an unreasonable risk to the
health and safety of people or the environment.
* Major transportation accidents involving hazardous materials, acts of
terrorism incidents involving the collapse of inhabited buildings, urban search
and rescue, response system made up of emergency responders from all
municipalities' emergency services and major flooding disasters.
* The entire system will be managed from a state of the art provincial
disaster management and emergency operations centre which is in the final
stages of completion and will be officially opened later in the year.
Ladies and gentlemen
It is an accepted fact that, no matter how effective emergency services
management systems may be, it is the fire fighter and rescuer on the ground
that is responsible for ensuring that fires are extinguished and lives are
saved. A recent survey done by the Department of Local Government has shown a
disturbing lack of capacity to train emergency services members.
It must become a priority of the South African Emergency Services Institute
(SAESI) to address this challenge. Not only is it expected of you by your
members, but also by the many municipalities and provincial governments who
rely on your experience and expertise in this field.
The 2007 SAESI conference has focused largely on the empowerment of
emergency services members in the areas of vehicle extrication, rope rescue and
emergency medical care.
Another very important activity during this week is the extremely large
Public Information Awareness and Relations Programme, which has been running
since Wednesday and has been organised by the Department of Local Government
Public Information, Education and Relations (PIER) Working Group. This is the
largest awareness programme ever presented in South Africa and speaks to the
spirit of the Disaster Management Act which focuses on prevention rather than
response.
Too many children die unnecessarily in shack fires and flooded rivers. A new
scourge has reared its head this last summer season and this is the large
number of children drowning in swimming pools. I am aware that legislation is
being prepared to make swimming pools safer. Children must still however be
taught from an early age to recognise the hazards associated with water and how
to stay safe around water.
The process of re-drafting of the Fire Services Act has already commenced
and will be a very important piece of legislation for the future. It is trusted
that the drafting committee (many of whom are present here) will focus on such
issues as minimum norms and standards for fire services, qualifications of
emergency services staff and ensuring that rescue becomes ensconced as a
primary function of fire services. The current Fire Services Act was
promulgated in 1987 and is in urgent need of review. I urge the drafting
committee to take careful note of all the areas that need to be addressed and
to include it in the new Act.
I am concerned about the lack of provision of training by institutions of
higher learning in regards to fire fighting. Accordingly we have begun the
discussion with the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority
(LGSETA) to address this problem.
In line with our developmental goals we must look at the impact of fire on
the environment because failure to do so will further destroy our environment
even more.
As winter approaches us we must all take responsibility and ensuring that
our actions compliment government programmes on fire awareness in our
communities. We will be together with all municipalities launch the Pre-Winter
Awareness Campaign with the sole aim of reducing fires, especially in informal
settlements.
I wish you the best during your deliberations in this conference and also in
ensuring that South Africa host an incident free 2010 World Cup Soccer
Tournament. Africa's time has arrived. South Africa is ready!
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Local Government, Gauteng Provincial
Government
10 May 2007
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za)
