Business applauds AG report on inadequate response to floods

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) has welcomed Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke’s findings that government’s overall response to the disastrous KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Eastern Cape (EC) floods “has been too slow to alleviate the hardship of flood victims.”

BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso said in a statement on Thursday that although Maluleke has made concerning findings around government’s pace in addressing the plight of the victims, business is pleased with the office’s efforts to keep the state accountable.

“The Auditor-General serves a fundamental role in our constitutional democracy, holding government to account and providing invaluable insights into the efficacy of our state institutions,” Mavuso said.

“We are heartened by the AG’s ongoing, independent outputs that speak truth to power with neither fear nor favour.

“We commend, in particular, [her] capable stewardship of this critical pillar of our state apparatus.”

The AG’s office released the First Special Report on Flood Relief Funds on Wednesday.

The real-time audit was commissioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa to ensure that all flood relief funds were used correctly and responsibly by government.

It focused on the management of relief funds with respect to:

• The provision of mobile classrooms and kitchens to severely damaged schools in KwaZulu-Natal;
• The provision of temporary residential units for KwaZulu-Natal residents who lost their homes in the floods;
• Water tankering [trucking] services in eThekwini Metro where damage to water infrastructure affected water supply;
• Social relief efforts in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape; and
• Repairs to government properties.

Key findings

According to the AG the government demonstrated a “lack of urgency in assessing damage and determining the needs” of flood victims – especially those in the Eastern Cape.

This, her office found, was partly due to a backlog of damage assessments that were not performed previously for other disasters, dating as far back as 2013.

The backlog appears to have formed due to a “lack of funding and coordination between municipalities and provincial departments”.

KZN

With respect to the April KZN floods, the AG found that government structures in the province lacked the necessary capacity, project management capabilities and monitoring systems to ensure the completion of projects and the timeous delivery of goods and services.

Read: Durban residents repair flood damage, give up on government

“Government was further not adequately prepared for a disaster,” says Maluleke.

“For example, documented processes were not always in place (such as for the supply of water tankering services) to guide and direct efforts to enable service delivery.

“Some challenges experienced during implementation (such as the unavailability of land for temporary residential units) also remain unresolved, resulting in current and future delivery failures.”

Eastern Cape

For the EC the AG’s office said persistent vacancies – especially in the education, transport and health departments – were mainly to blame for the province’s slow response to the after-effects of the disaster as it meant the province was often faced with a capacity and coordination problem.

The AG found that supply chain issues emanating from the floods further delayed the delivery of temporary residential units.

Read: ‘No improvement’ in municipal management in 2021: Auditor-General

Recommendations

The AG’s office has called on government at national, provincial and local level to take urgent action to address the slow-paced delivery of much-needed relief to flood victims in both provinces.

It further recommended that government work on strengthening preventative controls and intergovernmental coordination to avoid failure in the infrastructure rebuilding phase of the disaster.

Maluleke says government needs to direct urgent attention in the following areas:

• Where delivery is slow or compromised, leadership must take urgent action to alleviate the hardship of affected communities.
• Even in times of crisis, the quality of delivery and value for money should be non-negotiable.
• Preventative controls should be implemented to avoid failure, especially in the infrastructure rebuilding phase.
• Government should continue to build disaster management capacity and capabilities and learn from previous disasters.

“Government’s priority should be to urgently strengthen its disaster management capacity and capabilities, as disasters such as these floods are becoming more common due to climate change,” Maluleke said.

The AG’s office notes that because of government’s commitment to addressing identified failures, it has not moved to issue notifications of material irregularities.

It warns that should the state fail to follow through, and should financial losses and/or substantial harm to the public arise as a result, the office will have no choice but to use its enforcement mandate.

“We are encouraged by the responsiveness to our findings and commitments to take action, some of which have already yielded positive results,” says Maluleke.

“Our recommendations and the commitments in response are included on our website – we are tracking them closely and will report on their implementation in every report.”