The death toll has risen to six following a heavy hailstorm that wreaked havoc in Mthatha villages in the Eastern Cape. More than 19 people are still in hospital, while hundreds of homeless people say they are still waiting for government’s intervention.
Many have no food, no clothes, electricity and clean water. Bereaved families say they have no means to bury their loved ones. The Ngolomane family lost their 17-year-old daughter to the storm.
Hailstorm claims six lives:
“The most important issue is that they must understand that we need shelter out of everything that has just happened, at least they should have provided shelter, whether it is temporary or permanent structures or whatever. As taxpayers we always expect the government to do something, there is nothing they have provided. Every department has just come and passed by, nothing provided, even the institution for counselling,” says Zukisani Ngolomane.
Disaster Management in the OR Tambo District Municipality has been busy on the ground collecting data. Plans to help the affected communities are on the cards.
“We are on-site ever since this incident took place, we are busy gathering data so that we can be able to quantify the damage and also structure our interventions. We are going to have short-term interventions, medium and long-term interventions. But we are looking into making sure that people have temporal shelter. We will be working with various departments because we can not deal with this as the district municipality alone,” says Zimkhitha Macingwane, OR Tambo District Municipality spokesperson.
Heavy storms leave many homeless at Xhongorha village
