ByNkhensani Chauke
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa is set to formally announce the disbursement of the Municipal Disaster Response and the Disaster Recovery Grant to provinces and municipalities across the country on Monday.
The allocations will support rapid relief and recovery measures in communities impacted by the latest weather disasters.
The intervention comes in as a result of a series of disruptive incidents which are formally recognised and declared as national disasters, in line with Section 23(3) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No.57 of 2002). They include the recent destructive floods in the Eastern Cape.
The money is being released under Section 25(3)(a) of the Division Revenue Act, 2023 (Act No.5 of 2023), as amended by the Division of Revenue Amendment Act, 2023(Act No. 24 of 2023).
“The announcement forms part of government’s ongoing efforts to ensure an adequate and timely response to the devastating weather events of April 2025, which significantly affected several provinces, most notably the Eastern Cape.
“In addition to addressing the damage caused by these events, the grants will support broader recovery interventions aimed at restoring essential services and the dignity of affected communities,” the department said in a statement.
The Eastern Cape was declared a national disaster zone following the widespread destruction, which resulted in the deaths of 102 people.
The department said that to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of the funding, it would implement strict accountability mechanisms to guarantee that the allocated resources were used solely for their intended purposes.
“Monitoring and reporting frameworks will be enforced in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to uphold transparency and good governance,” it said.
The department said the intervention reflected the government’s commitment to moving from policy deliberation to decisive action and to building a resilient, responsive, and inclusive system of local governance that places the needs of communities at the centre of development.
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