ActionSA is deeply concerned by the scale of destruction caused by the recent heavy rains and flooding across Mpumalanga. The provincial government has confirmed that an estimated R2.1 billion is required to repair flood-damaged infrastructure, particularly roads and crossings that are essential for mobility, safety, and economic activity.
Even more alarming is the human cost of this disaster. The death toll linked to these heavy rains in Mpumalanga has risen sharply, with dozens of lives lost across the province and neighbouring areas. These are not merely statistics, they are families torn apart and communities traumatised by a tragedy that demands urgent and decisive leadership.
In Matsulu, school children are being forced to cross roads that have effectively become flowing streams just to get to and from school. This is extremely dangerous and entirely unacceptable. No child should have to risk their life in order to access an education. This reality lays bare the consequences of failing infrastructure and poor disaster preparedness.
This crisis exposes a broader and deeply troubling truth: state infrastructure in Mpumalanga is not designed to withstand extreme weather events. In many areas, what communities rely on as “bridges” are in fact low-lying crossings that were never engineered to endure heavy rainfall. These structures did not fail by chance, they were inadequate by design. The result is predictable: roads become rivers, communities are cut off, and lives are put at risk.
The fact that R2.1 billion is now required to fix this damage is itself a testament to a reactive government instead of a proactive one. Had infrastructure been properly planned, engineered, and maintained from the outset, both the financial cost and the risk to human life could have been significantly reduced. Government continues to pay more for fixing preventable failures than it would for building correctly in the first place.
ActionsA believes that government cannot continue to operate in crisis mode, scrambling for billions after each disaster. Proactive investment in resilient, properly engineered infrastructure is not optional, it is a fundamental duty of the state. Every rand spent on prevention saves lives and reduces the long-term cost to the public purse.
We call on provincial and national authorities to urgently mobilise additional aid for affected communities, prioritise the restoration of safe access route, particularly those used by learners, and commit to a comprehensive, forward-looking infrastructure strategy that recognises the realities of climate change and extreme weather.
The people of Mpumalanga deserve infrastructure that protects them, not systems that fail them when they are most vulnerable.
ActionSA Raises Alarm Over Mpumalanga Floods, Learners Put at Risk by Failing Infrastructure
ActionSA is deeply concerned by the scale of destruction caused by the recent heavy rains and flooding across Mpumalanga. The provincial government has confirmed that an estimated R2.1 billion is required to repair flood-damaged infrastructure, particularly roads and crossings that are essential for mobility, safety, and economic activity.
Even more alarming is the human cost of this disaster. The death toll linked to these heavy rains in Mpumalanga has risen sharply, with dozens of lives lost across the province and neighbouring areas. These are not merely statistics, they are families torn apart and communities traumatised by a tragedy that demands urgent and decisive leadership.
In Matsulu, school children are being forced to cross roads that have effectively become flowing streams just to get to and from school. This is extremely dangerous and entirely unacceptable. No child should have to risk their life in order to access an education. This reality lays bare the consequences of failing infrastructure and poor disaster preparedness.
This crisis exposes a broader and deeply troubling truth: state infrastructure in Mpumalanga is not designed to withstand extreme weather events. In many areas, what communities rely on as “bridges” are in fact low-lying crossings that were never engineered to endure heavy rainfall. These structures did not fail by chance, they were inadequate by design. The result is predictable: roads become rivers, communities are cut off, and lives are put at risk.
The fact that R2.1 billion is now required to fix this damage is itself a testament to a reactive government instead of a proactive one. Had infrastructure been properly planned, engineered, and maintained from the outset, both the financial cost and the risk to human life could have been significantly reduced. Government continues to pay more for fixing preventable failures than it would for building correctly in the first place.
ActionsA believes that government cannot continue to operate in crisis mode, scrambling for billions after each disaster. Proactive investment in resilient, properly engineered infrastructure is not optional, it is a fundamental duty of the state. Every rand spent on prevention saves lives and reduces the long-term cost to the public purse.
We call on provincial and national authorities to urgently mobilise additional aid for affected communities, prioritise the restoration of safe access route, particularly those used by learners, and commit to a comprehensive, forward-looking infrastructure strategy that recognises the realities of climate change and extreme weather.
The people of Mpumalanga deserve infrastructure that protects them, not systems that fail them when they are most vulnerable.