DURBAN - Deputy Minister of Social Development Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu has urged South Africans to consider people with disabilities as flood relief measures are implemented.
This comes after the deputy minister visited KwaZulu-Natal facilities for people with disabilities that were affected by the floods.
“I hope as we implement the disaster relief interventions, we will also ensure that the special needs and challenges of disabled people are catered for, and they get the support they need,” said Bogopane-Zulu.
Bogopane-Zulu said people with disabilities would have been subjected to trauma as they struggled to get to safety.
She said at the JEP Home for the Blind in Durban, which was flooded, neighbours, who heard their cries for help, assisted the caregivers in getting all 24 blind people out of the house.
The department said as she continued assessing the extent of the damage by the devastating floods in KwaNzimakwe in Port Shepstone in the Ugu District Municipality, Bogopane-Zulu was informed by Inkosi Thembalenkosi Nzimakwe that it had been reported that 50 families had lost their homes.
The deputy minister, in partnership with Reonet and Thintane Investment, handed over relief supplies to the affected families and directed that social workers provide psycho-social support.