Govt planning ‘needs to be different’ warns minister amid possible KZN drought

“The estimation of early warning says, 'you are going to be extremely wet, then you are going to be extremely dry'. So, we need to be talking water conservation, water storage, water systems that prepare us for the drought, and that's what our plans are,” Cooperative Governance Minister Thembi Nkadimeng warned on Sunday. 

She was speaking on the preparations the government should be putting in place to mitigate against the impact of climate change.

Over the weekend, she accompanied KZN Cooperative Governance MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi to areas in Uthukela district affected by the recent floods.

"The planning of government needs to be different,” the minister said. 

“It needs to be moving towards the resilient structures. I mean, honestly, we were warned seven years ago that this period, in this area, will be wet, so we should have expanded our dams, we should have expanded our bridges, but that's the process."  

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The South African Weather Service experts last year warned of a possibly hot and dry summer season brought by the system.

This can result in increased rainfall and flooding in some regions, while South Africa can experience droughts such as the one in the Western Cape from 2015 to 2017. 

El Niño typically lasts for a period of nine to twelve months but can sometimes last for years.