The devastation left by the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) floods is still being assessed, but the natural disaster and the dangers it posed did not deter looters from taking advantage of the situation.
Watch: Looters caught on camera stealing supplies
While law enforcement and emergency resources were honed in on rescue operations in the hardest hit areas of the province, dark forces with ulterior motives found an opportune moment to get off with freebees.
Eyewitnesses watched on as an unidentified group of looters channelled food and other supplies out of the roof of a storage facility and, completely undeterred by the flooding, swam across to a shallow area where, it’s presumed, they had packed their stolen goods.
#KZNFloods reports of looting now. pic.twitter.com/zl3YvhoRMi
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) April 12, 2022
KZN floods: What’s the latest death toll?
KZN Premier Sihle Zikala released a statement on Tuesday, noting the scale of devastation left by the torrential weather system.
As of Tuesday, the KZN floods death toll stood at 59, and the influx of missing person cases suggests the tally may increase in the days to come.
The price KZN’s provincial government will have to pay to restore a semblance of normalcy? Billions of rand, Zikalala said.
“Undoubtedly billions of rand worth of damage has been caused to homes, places of work, roads, bridges, electricity and water supply, and other critical government infrastructure. None of our districts have been spared, but the EThekwini Metro has been the epicentre of this disaster with most of the rain and the worst damage,” he said.
In response to the KZN floods, the South African government declared a state of disaster in the province and, according to Zikalala, this will allow the province leeway “to apply for emergency funding from National Treasury and grant authority to reprioritise our current budgets in order to address the reconstruction work necessary to bring the province back to normal.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to pay his respects to the families who were affected by the KZN floods on Wednesday.