- KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube wants to meet with Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke following a damning report on the province's response to the April floods.
- Earlier this week, Maluleke said government’s response to the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape floods had been too slow and failed to meet the affected communities' needs.
- Dube-Ncube said a meeting with Maluleke would be "be of great benefit" to the province.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has requested an urgent meeting with Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke following damning findings related to the relief funds meant for flood-affected communities.
Dube-Ncube said she wanted to meet with Maluleke following the release of the first real-time audit into the relief funds in response to the flood disaster in April this year.
"It is important that as the provincial government, we adequately understand and develop capacity to respond to the issues raised by the Auditor-General," Dube-Ncube said in a statement on Saturday.
Earlier this week, the AG said the government's response to the flood disaster in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape had been too slow and failed to meet the needs of the affected communities within the prescribed deadline.
President Cyril Ramaphosa requested the AG's office to conduct a real-time audit on the flood relief funds to ensure they were used for their intended purposes. The decision follows concerns that the resources allocated to deal with the disaster would be misappropriated or wasted.
The AG report found damage assessments were not performed because of the backlog in addressing the impact of four previous disasters dating as far back as 2013.
She also found only 736 of the 1 810 temporary residential units had been completed and were in use in KwaZulu-Natal, and only 45 of the 4 799 temporary residential units had been completed in Eastern Cape by 31 July, 2022.
Dube-Ncube said the government agrees with the AG's highlights, which are that:
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; and
Government should continue to build disaster management capacity and capabilities and learn from previous disasters.
“Given the serious nature of the findings and the call for an urgent response, the Office of the Premier believes an engagement will be of great benefit and will enable provincial government and all sector institutions in the province to respond adequately and comprehensively to all the issues of concern raised by the Auditor-General.
"The provincial government will, however, continue to study all the reports on this matter, including the final general and special reports in order to be able to provide our own considered response on all matters raised by the Auditor-General’s office,” Dube-Ncube said.