The Economic Freedom Gauteng notes with disturbance the earthquake experienced Gauteng in the early morning today.
The 4.4 to 5.0 level earthquake according to the South African Seismograph Network(SANSN), hit Johannesburg, parts of East Rand, Tshwane, and Sedibeng Regions at around 02:38 AM today, and left a material damage on the houses and properties of the people in the affected areas.
While there is no reported casualty, the damage caused is devastating, especially for the already socially and economically struggling and destitute people of Gauteng.
While the EFF recognizes that such natural disasters cannot be controlled and at times even predicted, the government must always have standing institutions to quickly intervene to mitigate damages and avoid loss of life. The Covid-19 Pandemic has proven to all of us that the South African Disaster Management plan and infrastructure are incapable of adequately responding to these instances. In most cases, the people are left to survive all by themselves.
The occurrence of such events should serve to emphasize the need for the government to invest in science, technology and research in seismology and other disciplines in order to detect these disasters before they take occur, and evacuate residents for safety where necessary. They also serve to stress the need for the Gauteng government to take serious the urgency to capacitate the Emergency Medical Services such that disaster-like incidents do not lead to casualties as it has been the case before.
The EFF wishes to highlight the fact that this is not the first and isolated incident in recent years. Cases of tremor have been recorded in the province and this is due to the capitalist greedy extraction of gold and other precious minerals from the African soil without any effort to reinvest in the rehabilitation of the land and to compensate those who are affected and exploited.
The EFF calls on the Gauteng government and municipalities in affected areas to provide immediate intervention and relief to the affected communities. We also call on EFF public representatives and leadership to make themselves available and offer help to the affected residents and make sure those in need receive necessary aid.
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