IT has been confirmed that six people, four from the Kokstad area and two from the Vryheid area, lost their lives in the devastating veld fires that swept through the province last weekend.
According to the KwaZulu-Natal Ministry for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, another six people were seriously injured and livestock, infrastructure and property has sustained severe damage. With 200 KwaZulu-Natal households affected by the fire, a significant number of people have been left homeless.
A delegation, which included Ms Nomusa Dube-Ncube under whose portfolio disaster management falls, and the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Cyril Xaba, visited the affected communities and helped to distribute much-needed humanitarian relief to the fire victims. Farmers are now being assisted with emergency animal feed.
“As is the norm, in the wake of these fires, the Joint Organising Committee was activated and disaster teams worked tirelessly to assist the victims. At this stage the cost impact of the overall disaster incidents cannot be confirmed as more detailed assessments are still being conducted to include the impact on the agricultural sector. At this stage there is no consideration for declaring the affected areas, disaster areas.” said Ms Dube-Ncube.
She warned the fire risk remained extremely high in KwaZulu-Natal.
