The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government is rolling out lightning conductors in disaster stricken communities in response to lightning strikes which have recently left several people dead and destroyed property in the province.

The programme was launched at the weekend in the Bingoma area which falls under the Mhlathuze Local Municipality.

According to KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Nomusa Dube-Ncube‚ the rollout of lightning conductors is crucial for the protection of rural communities which have borne the brunt of the extreme weather across the province.

“December and January has traditionally proved to be the most deadly time of year when it comes to lightning strikes. Last year we witnessed the death of more than 20 people as a result of lightning strikes and so far this year we have lost close to 25 people‚ with five people being killed in less than a month‚” said Dube-Ncube.

The rollout of these lightning rods is specifically targeted at rural communities and the department has partnered with municipalities in ensuring that public spaces such as community halls‚ clinics‚ schools have lightning rods installed‚ especially in high-risk areas.

This rollout includes a massive awareness campaign that also encourages communities to buy these lightning rods at their local hardware supplies for their own homes.

“As a department‚ we have limited resources to install these conductors in every community and we can only focus on high-risk areas and thus we have called upon communities to partner together and buy these devices which offer protection to surrounding houses within a 100m radius‚” said Dube-Ncube.