Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants a parliamentary committee to visit areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng affected by looting and violence and see how they can intervene by bringing relief measures to the poor and vulnerable.
The party’s MP and its spokesperson on social development, Bridget Masango, says the DA had written to the Portfolio Committee for Social Development Chairperson Mondli Gungubele, to request that oversight visits to KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are conducted to assess the impact of the riots on social development infrastructure and services.
The violent looting and destruction of infrastructure which the country saw last week had damaging consequences for communities, with residents struggling to access food, medicine, fuel and other necessities.
“And while private individuals, NGOs and the communities all over the country are working hard to restore supply chain management and access to essentials, many families still have to queue for hours in lines that span whole city blocks in order to procure produce.
“The Social Development Committee, therefore, has to urgently ascertain the needs and damage caused to homes for the vulnerable, including old age homes, crèches, children’s homes, Early Childhood Development centres (ECDCs) and Community Nutrition and Development Centres (CNDCs). These homes often struggled with procurement of necessities, before the anarchy unfolded, and will undoubtedly be struggling now,” she said.
Destruction of Sassa pay points also needed to be assessed, to ensure that the poor and vulnerable have access to their grants.
Masango added that the committee would also benefit from briefings by the provincial departments on how they will roll-out the relief, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa committed the Department of Social Development and Sassa to intervene and alleviate the disastrous impact of the riots, and the committee must therefore comply to its oversight mandate over the Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu, her department and Sassa,” Masango said.
Political Bureau