Home | South Africa Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Deputy Minister has visited the Nkomazi Local Municipality in Mpumalanga as part of  the ongoing assessment of  provinces and areas affected by floods Located in the Ehlanzeni District Municipality which are affected by the floods at different degrees Tuesday’s assessment was intended to provide an opportunity to determine the extent of the damage and then to consolidate the necessary resources there were over 100 footbridges connecting communities of the various villages and many of these have been totally destroyed by the floods Nkadimeng indicated that the assessment process is still ongoing across the country and that the resources needed to address the disaster will only be known once the assessments are done With the declaration of the national state of disaster the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) continues to coordinate and work with all provincial disaster teams to mitigate the impact of floods on communities the current flooding already led to six confirmed fatalities and four people still unaccounted for after having been swept away by water The farming community has also suffered with about 565 livestock dead as a result of the raging water following the rains,” CoGTA said As a number of areas were flooded and some services disconnected the health sector in the municipality was also not spared Three clinics were affected and two are now functional and a mobile clinic is also augmenting the required assistance to communities The hospital is now working after water was restored by the municipality there is concern that waterborne diseases such as cholera and malaria will spread The relevant department and the municipality were urged to monitor the developments,” CoGTA said The Deputy Minister said stakeholders should work together to restore normalcy to the lives of communities that has been affected by the devastating floods “This can only be accomplished if all stakeholders start connecting services for people … This cannot be put off because the lives of communities must come first,” Nkadimeng said The Deputy Minister also spoke about the importance of food banks which would be playing a key role by providing food parcels to assist those badly affected by the flooding After the briefing session held at Kamhlushwa Community Hall the Deputy Minister joined the disaster management teams that are on the ground providing the much needed assistance to the affected communities The in loco inspection started at Thambokhulu Bridge and it is making movement of people of goods and people impossible The municipality is already attending to the problem and contractors are onsite This bridge is one of the three destroyed by flooding The second site to be visited was Masibekela Water Treatment Plant which experienced flooding due to the overflowing river This flooding resulted in the plant not working thus leaving many communities without water The Deputy Minister urged the municipality to fast track the process to reconnect communities to the water supply She also emphasised the need to elevate the pumps in the water treatment plan to avoid future challenges if the river overflows to ensure that the agricultural sector is not negatively impacted The last site was an assessment and engagement with members of the community who lost homes due to heavy rains and flooding The Deputy Minister urged the municipality to assist and to find alternative stands that are not in a flood prone area “Major rainfall events that result in flooding demonstrate the importance of properly designed and maintained storm drain systems Mismanaged and blocked storm water can be dangerous for the environment “The routine storm water maintenance and storm drains are particularly important in flood-prone areas to ensure the drainage system is working as designed and ready to handle increased flows during weather events,” Nkadimeng said The Deputy Minister called for heightened awareness and encouraged communities to be cautious as more rains are still expected and the risk of flooding still remains high General Enquiries newsfiles@gcis.gov.za Tel: 012 473 0213Editor Roze Britz roze@gcis.gov.za News Editor Janine Arcangeli janine@gcis.gov.zaEditor-in-Chief Zanele Mngadizanelemngadi@gcis.gov.za  was prevented from accessing kaMhlushwa in Nkomazi to address community members Latchminarain was meant to engage the community at the stadium regarding the poor state of the roads in Nkomazi. The residents have been protesting over the poor road infrastructure Residents in Kamhlushwa and other villages in Nkomazi blockaded the main roads over road infrastructure  The residents say the whole of Nkomazi is experiencing poor roads Video: A video posted on Facebook on Thursday by MEC Latchminarain The protest by the residents and taxi operators started last week when an agreement was reached that the Public Works Roads and Transport MEC will meet the community members on Tuesday On Thursday morning the residents blockaded the main roads with trucks and debries expressing their anger They blame the government for not taking them seriously We now want the Premier to come here to address this issue of roads that are damaged these potholes are damaging our cars,” says one of the residents Moita Latchminarain says the Tuesday meeting did not take place at the request of the residents ” I understand that they are disappointed because we had initially agreed on a meeting for Tuesday the leaders in the area advised us that there was a council meeting we agreed that we will postpone to today where we will address the whole community at Kamhlushwa stadium.” The MEC expressed disappointment in the road blockade saying she had gone there to present her department’s plan to address the road infrastructure challenge in the area ” We have been met with a road blockage whereby we are refused entrance to come in we have the whole team from the department we have the presentation on what to do there but the community doesn’t want us to come in We want to come and tell you what is it that we are doing.” plans are in place to address the challenge of poor roads in the province the residents have vowed to continue with their protest until their demands are met Service delivery protests in areas around Mpumalanga are nothing new:  Mpumalanga believes that his fuel production project will grow and create about 100 jobs for the locals if it can receive help from relevant authorities the founder of a company known as SMS Sibusiso Makhawane Shabangu Small Enterprise uses plastic and old vehicle tyres to produce different types of fuels such as diesel who previously worked as a security guard at a mine near Sasol on the Mpumalanga Highveld quit his job to start his fuel manufacturing project in 2018 At the moment Shabangu’s project has six employees working full time and four part-time “The only thing we need now is financial injection or any assistance that will help grow the project The project has the potential of creating about 69 to 100 full-time jobs I can buy machines that will help to grow the operations I have manufactured it using my engineering skills Every day we produce 10 to 100 litres of petrol 50 to 100 litres of oil and 50 to 200 litres of diesel,” says Shabangu “We sell our fuel to local farmers who use it for their machines such as tractors The construction industry also uses our diesel We sell our fuel at R10 per litre because people don’t have money.” The entrepreneur is grateful to a local tribal authority who offered him a piece of land to run his operation in 2020 He has not yet moved to the land due to a lack of finances He says the area also still has to be assessed by environmentalists before it can be put to use “Some environmental assessment has been done on the land but we are still waiting for further assessment “We are not yet compliant with other fuel regulations such as traffic management “So we hope that the government will assist us with this and other related issues,” he says When asked what made him think of producing fuel he says initially he wanted to produce plastic bricks but as he was working on the project he realised the potential He then conducted research and started the fuel production process Shabangu studied mathematics and physical science but acquired more knowledge when he was a student at Mlumati Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in Nkomazi After completing his studies he could not get a job He worked as a security guard at one of the mines next to Sasol which fuelled his ambitions of owning a fuel producing company Shabangu says he is interacting with government entities such as the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) who promised to assist him to develop his project “The officials from Seda and DTI are helping to make this project a success I presented the vision of the project to them and they were impressed “Now I can’t say anything about our negotiations because they are still at an early stage I want to own a huge fuel production company supplying big companies with fuel.” Seda provincial manager Mashiba Kgole confirmed that they were helping Shabangu to grow and sustain the project “You are talking about the Nkomazi project We are in the process of assisting him,” says Kgole a local farmer who relies on Shabangu’s fuel For more business news and views from this week’s paper, 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To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here. Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Tel: +27 11 268 6300 Fundudzi Media (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms & conditions and privacy policy. A group of about 10 to 15 armed suspected robbers got away empty handed, after they bombed a cash-in-transit vehicle near Malelane in Mpumalanga just before noon on Wednesday. Mpumalanga Police’s Colonel Mtsholi Bhembe says the cash-in-transit vehicle was accosted by two vehicles, a silver BMW and a white Toyota bakkie while on the Kamhlushwa-Langeloop road, within the Kamhlushwa policing area near Malelane. Bhembe says the cash-in-transit van hit a civilian vehicle on the road while trying to speed away from the suspected robbers. He says two occupants of the civilian vehicle sustained injuries and were later given medical treatment. Bhembe says it was at this point that the robbers caught up with the cash-in-transit vehicle and disarmed the security personnel. According to Bhembe, the Police’s swift response to the scene saw the suspected robbers ran off from the scene with no cash. Copyright © 2022Capricorn FM.All rights reserved. coordinated response to the impact of floods that are affecting Mpumalanga the Northern Cape and North West provinces Flooding has affected the provinces of Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape since early February 2023 Fatalities were reported in Kamhlushwa and Driekoppies in Mpumalanga in early February Severe flooding affected Nkomazi Local Municipality on 08 February Two fatalities were reported in the area as a result rivers including the Komani River broke their banks on 08 February 2023 flooding areas of the town of Komani in Chris Hani District Municipality Other areas of the district were later affected District officials reported around 1,000 people were moved from their homes and housed at a nearby school Some camps and roads were temporarily closed in the southern part of the Kruger National Park (KNP) situated in the border areas of Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces areas of Vhembe District Municipality were flooded on 12 February Heavy rain from 10 February caused flooding in parts of KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN) Homes and roads were flooded in the uMkhanyakude and Umzinyathi districts Two people were reported missing in uMkhanyakude The town of Newcastle in the Amajuba district was severely flooded Dozens of families evacuated and at least 3 fatalities were reported The Presidency said the National Disaster Management Centre has received reports ranging from flooded homes vehicles swept away by floodwaters and overflowing dams and sewerage facilities to the loss of basic infrastructure and damage to roads farmers have suffered crop and livestock losses and anticipate further losses as the South African Weather Service predicts that current heavy rains will persist “These conditions have been brought on by the La Niña global weather phenomenon which occurs in the Pacific Ocean but impacts on a country like South Africa with above-normal rainfall,” said Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya He said: “With the continued strengthening of the La Niña event the country can expect above-normal rainfall and below-normal temperatures over the summer rainfall areas these conditions demand the provision of temporary shelters food and blankets to homeless families and individuals and the large-scale including the South African Police Service and the South African National Defence Force may be required to play a role in the response to the disaster The National Disaster Management Centre continues to monitor and coordinate response and recovery measures by the relevant organs of state and stakeholders Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList