PICS | Gift of the Givers provides aid to 800 families after Northern Cape floods

Gift of the Givers has distributed aid to around 800 families in areas surrounding Kuruman in the Northern Cape following heavy rainfall and flooding.

"Homes collapsed, roads were destroyed, bridges washed away and many animals died [as a result of the flooding]," Gift of the Givers operations manager Ali Sablay said.

The area has not experienced flooding to this extent since 1974, Sablay added.

The organisation provided food parcels, hygiene packs and blankets to nine villages on Thursday, but the heavy rain made some roads impassable. Gift of the Givers was able to airlift the supplies after Nicky and Jonathan Oppenheimer provided a helicopter.

Around 800 families in nine villages received aid from Gift of the Givers following the worst floods since 1974.

Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul assists families after heavy rains in the Kuruman area.

Gift of the Givers operations manager Ali Sablay and Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul oversee the donation of food parcels to around 800 families.

"This intervention is a wonderful example of government, private sector and civil society working in unison for the benefit of our vulnerable communities in South Africa," Sablay said.

The donations – sponsored by Woolworths, Makro and TFG – were handed over by Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul, Social Development MEC Topsy Vilakazi and John Taolo Gaetsewe District Mayor Sofia Mosikatsi.

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