Durban — The Deputy Minister of Social Development, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu engaged in a dialogue with women who were affected by the floods earlier this year.
Severe flooding and mudslides wreaked havoc across KwaZulu-Natal in April.
Speaking at the Valleyview Child and Youth Care Centre in Sydenham on Monday, Bogopane-Zulu said the platform was an opportunity for women to share their plight, and the pain and hardship they experienced in the context of the floods.
“I want everyone to speak for themselves and not for their neighbours or what they heard. This will give us full context to understand better the challenges they faced as women. Women carry entire families and everyone’s pain with them. Therefore, we want them to share with us so that even our sponsors would understand and know how to assist,” Bogopane-Zulu said.
The dialogues under the theme, “Women’s Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment, building back better for women’s resilience”, are aimed at emphasising that women are agents of change.
Widespread flooding in KZN and the Eastern Cape led the government to declare a national state of disaster.
According to the national Social Development Department’s spokesperson, Lumka Oliphant, it was reported that women and children were the hardest hit during natural disasters.
“A number of studies analysing the impact of disasters have revealed that women and children have greater risks to their survival and recovery in the aftermath of natural disasters; KwaZulu-Natal province has proved to be no exception to this,” said Oliphant.
Daily News