R1.7bn cash injection for emergency relief, recovery efforts

Koena Mashale Journalist
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana.
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana.
Image: Supplied

At least R1.7bn has been allocated for future disasters over the medium term. 

During the 2025 budget speech on Wednesday, finance minister Enoch Godogwanarevealed that R4bn had been provisionally allocated to address the backlog in recovery efforts for provinces and municipalities. 

“The incentives in our current disaster management system are skewed towards relief and rehabilitation, when mitigation and readiness to minimise damage is the most cost effective response. Our municipalities stand at the frontline of disaster response yet they are hamstrung by ageing infrastructure, bureaucratic fragmentation, and limited access to emergency funds,” he said. 

Godongwana said the priority was to reduce the administrative burden to access emergency funds. “Every hour of delay costs lives and livelihoods,” he said.

“Continuous improvements are made to the grant system to incentivise municipalities to access a variety of funding instruments for disasters. These include their own budget, the contingency reserve, conditional grant funding and insurance,” said Godongwana. 

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