Disaster Management Bill: deliberations

Meeting report

PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT PORTFOLIO AND SELECT COMMITTEES: JOINT SITTING
1 October 2001
DISASTER MANAGEMENT BILL: DELIBERATIONS

Chairperson: Mr Y Carrim

Relevant documents:
Disaster Management Bill [B 58 - 2001]

SUMMARY
The Committee continued with deliberations on the Bill. The Committee expressed concern over the provisions of Chapter 6. It was generally felt that the punitive measures for the lack of instituting prevention and mitigation procedures in times of disasters were too harsh. The Committee agreed to discuss the matter at a later time.

MINUTES
Disaster Management Bill
Mr B Solo (ANC) co-chaired the meeting. He asked members to comment only on those clauses that were of concern to them. The reasoning behind the request was for expediency.

Chapter 5: Municipal Disaster Management
Part 1: Municipal disaster management policy
Clause 41: Municipal policy framework
Ms C Lobe (ANC) referred to Clause 41(1)(a) and asked why the use of the term "statutory functionaries" had been used in this context.

Mr Petra Bouwer (Department) conceded that the wording in the clause seemed confusing and agreed to correct it.

The Committee agreed.

Ms G Borman (DP) suggested that traditional leaders be included in the clause as one of the stakeholders when disaster management policy is formulated.

Mr Bouwer stated that if traditional leaders are to be included in the clause as a stakeholder they would as a matter of consistency be included in the rest of the Bill.

The Chairperson, Mr Carrim agreed. It would not be practical to include traditional leaders as stakeholders throughout the Bill.

The Chair asked the Department to formulate clauses in relation to the prevention and mitigation of disasters.

The Department agreed.

Part 2: Municipal disaster management centres
Clause 46: Disaster occurring or threatening to occur in municipal area
Mr Komphela (ANC) referred to Clause 46 (b) and asked that in the event of a disaster should the provincial authorities not be notified before the national authorities. In the clause provision is made for the national authorities to be notified prior to the provincial authorities.

Mr Bouwer stated that the national authorities would firstly have to classify a disaster before it could be referred to the provincial authorities.

The Committee agreed to return to the issue at a later time.


Clause 47: Annual reports
The Chair asked why reference is made to Clause 44 in Clause 47(g).

Mr Bouwer conceded that it was a technical error and that reference should have been made to Clause 48.


Part 3: Duties and powers of municipalities and municipal entities
Clause 48: Disaster management plans for municipal areas
Ms Borman felt that the requirement of municipalities to regularly review and update its disaster plan in Clause 48 (1)(c) is not good enough. She suggested that a provision be included to allow for annual review of the disaster plan.

The Committee agreed.

The Committee also agreed to postpone deliberating on Clause 48(4) and asked the Department to check on the compliance of Clause 48(4) with the Municipal Systems Act.

The Department agreed to look into the matter.

Chapter 6: Funding of post disaster recovery and rehabilitation
Conceptually, the Committee had concerns over the entire chapter. The Chair stated that the funding is not provided for through the Department of Provincial and Local Government. He also had major concerns over the punitive measures that are provided for in the chapter in the prevention or mitigation of a disaster. Mr Carrim felt that these issues need to be urgently addressed by the Committee.

Clause 52: Guiding principles
The Chair referred to Clause 52(3) specifically, and asked the Department to reformulate the punitive measures in the clause. He asked for the clause to be less harsh whilst at the same time retaining its essence.

The Committee agreed.

Clause 53: National contributions to alleviate effects of local and provincial disasters
The Chair felt that the provisions of the clause are closely related to Clause 52 and asked the Department to consider combining the two clauses.

The Department agreed to look into the matter.

The meeting was adjourned.