Both the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town have received considerable funding through the National Disaster Management Centre.
In the face of the country’s worst drought in over 100 years, and devastating fires which swept through the Garden Route in June, provincial management has received an allocation of funds which would aid in relief efforts after the Western Cape was declared a disaster zone in May 2017.
The breakdown of funds sees the Department of Agriculture getting a R40m provincial disaster grant; the City of Cape Town is in line to receive a R20 812 483 municipal disaster grant, while the Bitou Local Municipality is due to receive a R10 920 000 municipal disaster grant and lastly the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality a R3 133 780 municipal disaster grant. Funding to these channels are to be administered by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Des van Rooyen, confirmed on Tuesday that the first instalment of R34 866 263 was transferred on August 21 to the municipalities of Cape Town, Bitou and Theewaterskloof, while and a second instalment of R40m, earmarked for livestock feed, will be allocated to the province by later this week.
As of Monday this week, collective dam levels were at 34.2% – a marginal increase of 1.7% since the previous week’s count. Despite the improvement, Monday’s report revealed that the daily water consumption target of 500 million liters, as set out by the City of Cape Town, is still off the mark by 99 million liters.
Photography Joe Mania