Western Cape schools, health facilities remain closed
Many schools and health facilities remain closed in the Western Cape as the province tries to get back on its feet after a severe weekend storm.
Communities were lashed by heavy rains that caused severe floods and landslides, leaving many roads inaccessible.
Alan Meyer, who's with the provincial department of education, says 242 schools were damaged.
"So the preliminary figure that we have is that we have a set of 26% on learner absenteeism, and that is based on the 1 076 schools we have already responded.
"So absenteeism is largely due to learner-transport not being able to reach learners homes and roads being closed and therefore learners are unable to get to school, particularly in Eden Central Karoo, the Overberg district and other parts of the Cape Winelands District."
At least 11 people lost their lives after the downpours.
The Western Cape government says some routes are still inaccessible.
Cape Town's mayor has signed a major incident declaration to free up additional resources to help communities recover faster.
Meanwhile, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says parts of the province and the Eastern Cape continue to be exempt from load shedding.
"Our desire is to enable to support the efforts of the first responders, emergency and people who are addressing the response to the challenges that are associated with the inclement weather. A decision was taken by Eskom to say that those areas, because of the difficulties that they are experiencing, will be exempt from load shedding."
