KZN infrastructure needs to be more storm resistant – DA

Rodgers visited flood-hit areas in and around Durban, meeting with affected residents, on Wednesday.

He said the provincial government has repeatedly been caught sleeping when disaster strikes.

He believes the current devastation exposes the government's lack of priorities.

 READ: State of disaster declared in KZN as president visits flood-ravaged areas

"If your structural systems won't work in service deliveries, stormwater, sewer, water reticulation. Then everything you build on top of that is going to crumble.

“There's not enough emphasis and there is not enough budget to ensure that we got the infrastructure to be able to handle this type of disaster.”

Rodgers says it will take the province even longer to recover from the events of the past two years. 

"We are already on the backfoot we had to deal with COVID-19 and the July unrest in the province. Our economy is stagnant, the unemployment rate is increasing and I think this storm will set us back even further. 

He says the country needs a government that can focus on dealing with the challenges that we can see around us. "