The amount of money required to fix infrastructure damage caused by recent floods in the Eastern Cape is estimated at R5.1 billion.

This was revealed by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) in its briefing to Parliament on the Eastern Cape floods and the state of readiness for the 2025 winter initiation season.

The Head of National Disaster Management Centre, Dr Ellias Sithole says available funds in the province’s CoGTA Department are just above R120 million.

“The costs of repairing damaged infrastructure are estimated at R5.1 billion and then R3.2 billion across sector departments, then R1.8 billion for the municipal infrastructure as per Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) assessments.

The total of 6 089 households have been affected, of which 4 724 have been left homeless across the province. With the exception of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, while 2 145 homes were partially damaged, R461 million is required for the temporary residential units. The province has R120 million.”