In just over a month, it will be a full year since the devastating floods of 1 June 2024 tore through Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), leaving lives shattered and infrastructure in ruins. In the days that followed, President Cyril Ramaphosa and several high-ranking officials visited the area to witness the devastation first-hand.
They came. They saw. To date, they’ve done nothing.
Despite solemn promises made by both national and provincial governments, the residents of Kariega are still waiting. Homes have been rebuilt through private effort and community resilience, not through government support. Damaged public infrastructure remains untouched, a constant reminder of the promises that were never kept.
Worse still, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has failed to begin critical repair work and now risks forfeiting disaster relief funds due to procurement failures and institutional dysfunction.
This amounts to a second disaster, one entirely of government’s own making.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes that President Ramaphosa and his Cabinet will be in Nelson Mandela Bay this week for a joint sitting and oversight visit.
We have once again taken the liberty of writing to the President directly, urging him to address the ongoing neglect of Kariega.
Similar correspondence was sent on 24 July 2024 and again on 19 March 2025, both without meaningful response.
The people of Kariega deserve more than empty promises and photo opportunities. They deserve action.
The DA will not rest until every commitment made to the people of Kariega is honoured, and those responsible for this neglect are held to account.