Thank you, Speaker. The ANC welcomes the launch of the social relief system by the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs, which aims at giving support to those severely affected by floods, lightning and other forms of natural disasters. Rural communities throughout the country will receive social relief to the value of R27 million. The official unveiling will take place on the 15th of March in the Amajuba district in KwaZulu-Natal, before it is rolled out into the Eastern Cape, where many people were killed by lightning.
The department aims to conclude the social relief system by the 26th April in the Sedibeng district in Gauteng. Natural disaster victims will be provided with basic needs such as emergency houses, gel stoves, oil lamps, solar lights and radios so that they can be aware of pending storm weather conditions. They will also be provided with lightning conductors to protect them against lightning strikes which recently killed many people in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. In the short term, government will provide emergency housing in eight provinces, with each province getting 100 emergency houses while the department continues to develop medium-term strategies for rural infrastructure development in areas heavily affected.
The ANC applauds this initiative by government which aims at providing relief to heavily affected areas, especially where families were left destitute, without food or shelter. I thank you.