Namibians on disaster management comparative tour
A group of eight Namibian local government officials, selected by the Namibian Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development visited the Mopani District Municipality Disaster Management Centre last Thursday.
The purpose of the visit by the delegation which included the Chief Executive Officers of Municipalities (Municipal Managers), Chief Disaster Managers, and Chief Emergency Officials was to undertook comparative studies on emergency and disaster management services.
The Mopani District Municipality, hosted the delegation as per the nomination of Minister Pravin Gordhan of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs through the National Disaster Management Centre following a request by his Namibian counterpart.
During their visit, to the Mopani District Municipality’s Disaster Management Centre which is considered one of the best functioning disaster management centres in South Africa, the delegation learned about the link of Disaster Management and other sectors in the public service, the funding model of the disaster centres, the legislation and policy of disaster management.
A variety of presentations and displays were made by variety of stakeholders within the Disaster Management Services as part of the study.
The University of Venda also made a presentation on “Infusing disaster science into higher education curriculum,”.
The Executive Mayor of Mopani District Municipality, Nkakareng Rakgoale said they were happy to share valuable views and lessons on how best to keep their respective areas safe from disasters and how to best mitigate against them in cases where they occur.
“We are convinced that we are also on a constant learning curve to improve on our strategies and tactics of dealing with disasters.
One of the greatest lessons we have learnt throughout our existence as a centre, is that disasters have a huge potential to undermine our efforts as a district of bringing development to the people,” she said.
She added that disaster management officials must at all times be combat ready to prevent and mitigate against disasters so that the potential damage costs are minimised.
