Municipality awaits disaster declaration in wake of flash floods in Buffalo City

Threats of more rain in the Eastern Cape have seen some community members volunteering to relocate, while officials desperately try convincing others to move.

The damage in the flood-affected region is untold, and aid relief group Gift of the Givers said that even their initial estimates of those affected could be much higher.

The organization’s spokesperson Corene Conradie said that they’d discovered even more heart-breaking stories of loss.

“A 21-year-old is now the head of the house of six children where both mother and father drowned in the river. They were working on a nearby farm, and they were on their way home trying to cross the river when a strong current just come over them and swept them away,” Conradie said.

Buffalo City Municipality is assessing the demand for alternative housing.

Spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said that they were still waiting for either the national or provincial government to declare a state of disaster, in order to unlock more emergency funding.

“We are also linking up with the provincial government in as far as the issue of declaration is concerned, however, the Disaster Management Act does allow shifting focus to those who are displaced and have lost everything,” Ngwenya said.

-EWN

In other news – Meet the person behind R1.3 million nightclub bill; Passion Java, a Zimbabwean ‘prophet’

If you’ve so much as logged on to a social media site this weekend, then you probably saw the wild antics of partygoers at the 012 Lifestyle venue in Pretoria. A whopping R1.3 million bar bill was racked up – and Passion Java was the man picking up the tab.

Allegedly, Java – who has become a multi-millionaire through his work as an eccentric pastor – was not in attendance on Saturday, but he had no problems with paying the seven-figure sum. Learn More