An evaluation of the disaster management function of municipalities in the Gauteng Province as at February 2008
Date
2009-11-10T08:22:50Z
Authors
Ddungu, Peter Emmanuel Mayanja
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Abstract
Disasters are events that cause death, injury or disease, damage to property,
damage to the environment and disrupt the life of the community. The majority
of South Africa’s population lives in fragile and vulnerable conditions due to high
levels of poverty, low standards of living and lack of access to resources. The risk
of further disaster occurrences is increased by population growth outstripping
available residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial development leading
to occupation of “at risk” areas such as flood plains. Furthermore South Africa’s
extensive coastline and proximity to shipping routes present various
meteorological and marine threats.
The Disaster Management Act, 2002 (No. 57 of 2002) was promulgated in
January 2003 and seeks to focus on disaster risk reduction and prevention.
Among other things, the Act requires every sphere of government to develop
disaster management plans. It is not clear how much progress has been made
by local government in Gauteng province in this regard.
A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted to evaluate the disaster
management function of municipalities in Gauteng province as at February 2008.
The study aim was broken down into three study objectives; a) to determine the
availability of disaster management plans; b) to determine the degree of
compliance of each disaster management plan to the standard required by the
Act and c) to determine the disaster management capacity of each municipality.
A questionnaire was forwarded at least two weeks before Key informant
interviews with designated disaster managers were conducted. Following each
interview a physical site inspection of each Disaster Management Centre was
carried out and assessed against a uniform check list. All six metropolitan and
district municipalities were evaluated with no abstention.
The key findings of the study were that;
• 66.7% (four out of six municipalities) had approved disaster management
plans. The remaining two had draft plans. All the plans were level 1
disaster management plans.
• In terms of compliance of the disaster management plans, the
municipalities scored between 65.6% - 84.4% with an overall average
score for Gauteng province at 75%.
• In terms of capacity to carry out their disaster management function; the
municipalities ranged from 35.5% - 78% with the overall average for
Gauteng province at 65.6%. Significantly Metsweding district municipality
was the only municipality in Gauteng province without a Disaster
Management Centre.
The study made the following recommendations;
• The National Disaster Management Centre and subsequently the Provincial
Disaster Management Centre need to develop a Remedial plan of action
with new time frames for the development of level 3 disaster
management plans that are realistic. The Remedial plan of action should
prioritize which objectives and Key Performance Indicators in the Disaster
Risk Management Framework are deliverable in the immediate term, the
medium term and over the long term.
• The establishment of a Disaster Management Centre for Metsweding
district municipality. This will require that the municipality engages with
the Provincial and National Disaster management Centres about the
allocation of a conditional grant to fund start up costs as provided for in
the Disaster Risk Management Framework (Enabler 3 – funding
arrangements).
• The National and Provincial Disaster Management Centres need to provide
guidelines on the standards/norms for the staffing requirements of a
Disaster Management Centre as well as the physical infrastructure
requirements of a Municipal Disaster Management Centre.
Description
M.P.H., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008.
Keywords
disaster management, Gauteng Province, municipalities