Remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa to members of the media on his visit to storm-affected parts of KwaZulu-Natal

We are saddened by what happened here, the loss of life is never something that pleases anyone particularly as it happens unexpectedly.

But we also want to commend the rescue services both at national level, at provincial level and at local government level.

We are very pleased that our teams, our units have come to the rescue of a number of people whose lives were at stake 

I want to commend our Minister, our acting Primer and our mayor here for mobilising your various units, in a quite a short space of time - the fire unit, as well as the army, the police.  

We are really pleased with the way that we have galvanised a lot of support also from the community.  The community has come to the aid of many of our people and we thank them for that.

There has also been outstanding rescue and lifesaving …(not clear) by many people who jumped into the mud, who jumped into flowing water to save their children, their loved ones, and other friends and neighbours so we commend our people for taking risky actions in the way that they did.

And obviously government, at all levels, is giving as much assistance as we possibly can, particularly for those who are displaced.  There are a more than a thousand people who are displaced.  

I have been very pleased to hear that our local government, our provincial government as well as our national department, the Police, Cooperative Governance - the Ministry, they have all joined hands to provide shelter for those who are displaced.

We thank various None Government Organisations – the Gift of the Givers, and other rescue organisations for coming to the aid of those who are in need. They have provided food, shelter, mattresses and beds and also toilet facilities in various community halls.

As government at national level, I immediately contacted the treasury and said do we have money to assist our people. They said President we have the money. So money will be mobilised to assist our people. 

These are emergency situations that we budget for. So resources will be mobilised in the biggest ways so that our people who are currently in need are assisted. It will take time but the South African Government, at all its levels will be there to give assistance to our people.

This is what we have to do as government and it is for that reason that I decided that I should come and have a look so that we can give some comfort to our people who are currently in devastated situations.

Our hearts go out to all those families and all our people who have been very badly affected with this.

The force of nature is so huge and this is partly what climate change is about, that it just hits when we least expect it. 

I will be going to the Eastern Cape [Province] in a few days to also go and see exactly what has happened there.  


We are obviously concerned that rain is raging again in the Free State [Province] as well and that there are reports coming in about risky situations there but our government is always going to be there to protect our people and the most vulnerable.

We like to thank you as the media for the coverage because you are giving us a lot of attention to the areas that may be in risk.

Thank you very much.