Ramaphosa: Funds not always readily available for disasters
President Cyril Ramaphosa says there are significant gaps between the cost of disaster responses and the finances that are readily available.
He was speaking at the National Treasury Climate Resilience Symposium in Pretoria on Monday morning.
These wildfires have recently swept through several parts of KZN, claiming the lives of seven people.
Last month, storms battered parts of the province, including tornados that wreaked havoc in Tongaat and Uthrecht.
READ: Three more firefighters killed in northern KZN
Ramaphosa asserts that the country must carefully consider ways to improve the National Treasury's disaster financing response.
"Even as we have taken proactive measures like setting up a Climate Change Response Fund, we need to think seriously about the urgent financial and policy measures needed to address these shocks and how to strengthen the National Treasury’s disaster financing response.
"The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is already working with the Presidential Climate Commission on recommendations for the Climate Change Response Fund and an Adaptation and Resilience Investment Plan to accompany it."
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