Getting to grips with climate change and the extreme weather patterns brought about by this 21st-century scourge is a challenge for the modern world. This is even more so for poorer countries, with vast numbers of people increasingly exposed to disaster and devastation.
While the countries of the Global North produced the bulk of the emissions of greenhouse gases causing our planet’s temperature to rise, it is the Global South that is least equipped when catastrophes such as floods, droughts and heatwaves make their deadly presence felt.
In South Africa, according to the experts, climate change will ensure we experience more erratic weather than we did in the past, and the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal in 2022 are evidence of this. The Western Cape has experienced its highest rainfall in nearly 50 years, and this follows series of floods over the past 10 years.
While the KwaZulu-Natal coastal zone was subjected to 300mm of rain in 24 hours in April 2022, Wits University researchers say that in April 1856 303mm of rain fell in the same area. But such events are occurring much more frequently. And, unlike just a few decades ago, human settlements have sprung up alongside most cities and towns, usually without the requisite drainage capacity and with people living in houses that provide little cover against inclement weather.
With regards to flood disasters, history is repeating itself. We need to prepare for bigger rainfall events in our cities
— Wits University researchers
“With regards to flood disasters, history is repeating itself. We need to prepare for bigger rainfall events in our cities,” the Wits researchers said.
Recently, huge floods have struck the Western Cape and this week what was described initially as a tornado destroyed homes in Inanda, eThekwini, leaving many without a roof over their heads.
The government has been criticised for its failure to help people — among them the poorest of the poor — affected by adverse weather events.
At least 443 people lost their lives in the KwaZulu-Natal floods, prompting the declaration of a state of emergency and a promise of R1bn in emergency assistance. But, nearly two months after the disaster, finance minister Enoch Godongwana told parliament that the National Treasury had not received a single request from provinces or cities to access the R1bn.
“We don’t just dish out money without any documents,” Godongwana told MPs.
In other cases, where dwellings have been damaged or even destroyed, people are moved into temporary accommodation, only to languish there for years as the promise of permanent housing fades with the reality of uncaring officialdom, a fate that has befallen displaced victims in Durban and Mamelodi in Tshwane.
Too often, humanitarian help is left to the Gift of the Givers, a world-class organisation that has made a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of people.
Our leaders' contribution to alleviating the plight of victims often amounts to little more than a photo opportunity and a few words of regret and consolation, before disappearing again down the rabbit hole of an indifferent bureaucracy.
The government needs to learn a lesson from Gift of the Givers, including speed at getting aid to affected communities, assessing and meeting their needs, and providing counselling. And the importance of following through.
Government efforts are frequently caught up in red tape, and the danger of corruption is ever-present.
Two key departments in our response to climate events are the department of human settlements and the department of co-operative governance, which co-ordinates the efforts of national and other levels of the state. The government needs to have a long, hard look at the capacity in these departments to deal with extreme weather events and their damage to people and society.
July is a month in which South Africans celebrate the life of the late Nelson Mandela. If he left us with nothing else, it is the call for a more caring society. As things stand now, our government’s efforts too often leave the impression of a distinct lack of any care whatsoever.
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