Kouga Municipality convenes special Council Meeting to declare local state of disaster
JUNE 12, 2017The Kouga Local Municipality Council will be holding a special meeting at the Council Chambers in Jeffreys Bay at 2pm on Monday.
"The purpose of the meeting will be for Council to declare a local state of disaster in the wake of the destruction caused by fire to large parts of the Kouga region, its communities and infrastructure over the past five days," said Kouga Local Municipality Executive Mayor, Elza van Lingen.
"The declaration will follow less than two weeks after the Kouga Local Municipality Council also declared a local state of disaster (on 31 May) because of the prolonged drought that has been crippling the area.
"Council’s plea to residents is that just as we stood together in the heat of the fire, we now have to stand together in rebuilding, in the same spirit, our families, our infrastructure and our Kouga."
The Mayor said that the Kouga Council wishes to thank the following people and organisations for their assistance with rescue and relief efforts in our region over the past few days:
- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality for trying to get Thornhill’s electricity on this afternoon (Sunday) soonest.
- MTN for jacking up the signal booster to improve communication in the Thornhill area.
- Sarah Baartman District Municipality’s leadership and Disaster Management teams
- Farming community and staff, who offered amazing support in spite of their own properties also being under threat.
- SAPS for continued support
- Longmore MTO, Working on Fire and fire-fighters from nearby districts.
- All donors and volunteers from all over Kouga and Nelson Mandela Bay. All donations are managed strictly under supervision and control.
- Kouga Municipality’s Social Services Director Japie Jansen, Kouga Fire Chief Dewald Barnard and fire-fighting teams, all Kouga staff, councillors and anyone else who dedicated time and effort for the people of Kouga.
"We say thank you!
"We further wish to express sincere condolences to the Van der Riet family This was a severe tragedy of our disaster," said van Lingen.
"We are also sad to have heard about farm houses that were partly damaged or burnt down, loss of staff houses, livestock, implements and outbuildings."
