While you were asleep: SANDF marches into KZN to help with rescue efforts

We begin this morning with the latest from KwaZulu-Natal where the SANDF has deployed 400 of an expected 10,000 soldiers to assist with the clean-up and emergency efforts in the flood-hit province.

The heavy rainfall that battered the area last week caused record floods and mudslides with nearly 450 people killed and around 4000 homes destroyed with an estimated 40,000 people displaced while joint civilian and military search and rescue personnel are still finding bodies in the debris more than a week after the flooding began.

Meanwhile, SA’s economy will be impacted due to the flooding with food shortages and price hikes across South Africa real threats because of port and road challenges says an economic adviser to the Optimum Group, Dr Roelof Botha.

Even with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan saying the Durban Port was fully functional after a visit on Tuesday, Botha says it will take some time before the backlog is cleared.

He added that poor infrastructure and maintenance of information technology at the harbour means it does not meet international standards for doing business even when operating at full capacity.

KZN premier, Sihle Zikalala was on the defensive yesterday after opposition parties accused the provincial government of being incapable of handling relief funding without the prospect of corruption.

Zikalala stressed that a process would be put in place to ensure there was transparency and that relief funds would be handled appropriately without abuse of funds. He said the office of the auditor general; the public protector and the South African Human Rights Commission are willing to ensure the funds are not mismanaged.

But opposition parties were having none of it with the EFF saying the ANC could not be trusted with relief funds and donations to the province.

EFF MPL Vusimuzi Khoza said, “Wherever there is the ANC, there is looting.”

The IFP and DA echoed the EFF’s sentiments.

Meanwhile, the IFP has accused eThekwini municipality workers of blowing up electricity transformers in Nsizwakazi, Klaarwater township, Durban, on Tuesday evening.

The IFP said an eyewitness told the party four municipality vehicles arrived in the area and drove to the transformers at the corner of Intake and Demat roads shortly before the transformers exploded, causing widespread blackouts in the area.

The eyewitness, identified as a taxi marshal, Sipho Shange, said the area had not been experiencing load shedding and the power went out after he saw municipality workers tinkering with the transformers.

In the markets, the rand traded on the back foot for most of yesterday despite a softer US dollar as local issues weigh on the local unit. This morning the rand has softened to trade atR15.06/$.

On the commodity front, gold, platinum, and palladium are trading softer this morning at $1,952; $982, and $2,434 respectively. Brent and WTI are both trading slightly above their closing levels of last night after US inventories showed a drop in the last week. Brent is currently sitting at $107.80 and WTI at $102.80.