JOHANNESBURG - In recent years, South Africa has experience tough weather conditions from the Western Cape drought in 2017, the KwaZulu-Natal floods in 2022 and latest floods in Western Cape’s Citrusdal where adverse weather conditions and heavy rains resulted in severe flooding, cutting off access routes to the town and some adjacent farms, leaving many residents isolated, displaced and some trapped without food and supplies.
With more rain forecast for the Western Cape this week, provincial minister of local government, Anton Bredell, indicated that plans and preparations were well in place for any circumstances relating to weather. eThekwini City manager Musa Mbhele, who was also part of the discussion, reencountered the devastation of the KZN floods that swept most parts of the province in 2022, but also highlighted that what makes it even worse are the scientific predictions that the province should ready themselves for more natural disasters should the global warming increase by 1.5 degrees.
As education around climate change and global warming finds its way in decision-making spaces, assistant manager, Charlotte McBride, said that South Africa had great climate change researchers and were on top of things.