As part the Social Development Month and ongoing government measures to rebuild the lives of households and communities ravaged by natural disasters early this year, the Minister of Social Development Ms Bathabile Dlamini will distribute flood relief assistance in Diepsloot-Gauteng Province.
Early this year, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs declared 28 municipalities in 7 provinces as disaster areas in terms of Disaster Management Act. Besides taking a terrible toll in terms of human sufferings, livestock, property and infrastructure, the natural disasters also resulted in loss of human life and many poor households were displaced.
Government in partnership with various agencies and civil society organizations provided humanitarian assistance to the affected families and communities in the first phase. The flood relief disbursement is the final phase of providing humanitarian relief. The officials of the Department of Social Development at the provincial and local level conducted house to house assessments to select the most appropriate beneficiaries in the declared areas. The information was verified by the Disaster Relief Fund Board.Special emphasis was placed on the most affected and poverty-stricken families.
As part of this relief effort, a total of 9 465 households in the 7 declared provinces will receive financial assistance and two blankets. The provincial breakdown in terms of the beneficiaries is as follows:
Eastern Cape: 1 019
Free State: 1 129
Gauteng: 3 355
KwaZulu-Natal: 1 277
Limpopo: 948
Northern Cape: 798
North West: 1 619
Gauteng was identified as the launch province for the flood relief disbursement project because it has a large number of beneficiaries. The project will be rolled out to the other six provinces during the course of this month. The details of the event are as follows:
Date: 17 October 2011
Time: 8h00 am
Venue: Diepsloot Youth Centre, Diepsloot Extension 2
Enquiries:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8607
