Imtiaz Sooliman – 28th Nedlac Annual Summit Sept 8, 2023,

			Islanders who don't do anything in
terms of search and rescue, but
		

			many lives were saved because of
very ordinary people in Tonga last
		

			five Good afternoon on 11th April,
2022
		

			the water rose eight meters in 45
minutes, and had the local people
		

			not responded, an entire community
would have been washed away.
		

			Fortunately, people, it was
daytime, people on the top floor
		

			of the houses and saw the water
rights very quickly. And within
		

			minutes, ordinary people came with
boats, came with whatever, and
		

			they evacuated the entire area to
high level areas. And whilst
		

			talking about evacuation and
moving people, all credit goes to
		

			the real heroes in our disaster,
the ordinary people. They arrange
		

			blankets, mattresses, food,
whatever they could bring one pot,
		

			half a pot, one chicken, but they
did it. They did it for several
		

			fellow South Africans. We are a
nation of resilient people who
		

			stand for each other, who help
each other, but we need the system
		

			to be improperly in place. What I
spoke about initially, the
		

			government needs to organize this
hierarchy system of response. And
		

			of course, where we have the
trained personnel in the different
		

			areas, you have better command
systems where people will fall in
		

			line. Want to train search and
rescue person or firefighter or a
		

			police reservist, and there'll be
discipline and obedience. The
		

			other thing is, we don't have
enough helicopters, and we don't
		

			have in or we don't have enough
functioning helicopters, and we
		

			don't have enough boats. Again,
when the crisis hits the entire
		

			coastline, and you have to deploy
boats from the central area in
		

			government, and the roads are cut
off and the water you cannot it's
		

			too rough, you can't get there. We
need to position boats along the
		

			whole coast, and again, other
areas where this kind of of
		

			weather patterns causes major
disaster. The fourth issue is
		

			communications. You cannot rely on
cell phones in a disaster like
		

			this, the power cables, the power
stations get knocked out. First,
		

			the cell phone towers are knocked
out, and people couldn't
		

			communicate for hours. We as in
gift of the givers, we have our
		

			own two way radio system, which in
Mozambique, at one stage, at the
		

			beginning of Cyclone, you die, we
were the only guys that could
		

			communicate from Vera to sequina
and other parts across the water,
		

			because we had that kind of
communication systems, you know.
		

			And we've got partners that deal
with that kind of communication
		

			networks. We need to implement and
invest in two way radio systems.
		

			They don't fail you. They have
repeaters, and you can reach out
		

			to so many kilometers where people
can communicate with each other.
		

			Now even that system of training
of police reserves and people
		

			retired people, they will be able
to manage that system.
		

			The other challenge that you have
is that, inevitably, there are no
		

			reserves, there are no mattresses,
no blankets, no system of rapid
		

			response for hot bills, bottled
water. We've got no warehouses
		

			anywhere in the country to do
that. When I say we, I mean
		

			government, and that's something
government is looking at it at
		

			very carefully. And I've mentioned
this several times to several
		

			ministers and several people in
disaster management. The tragedy
		

			is that disaster management calls
gift of the givers. You know, in
		

			every case, we are called to
respond, to assist gift of the
		

			givers. For gift of the givers to
assist the disaster management.
		

			Even in firefighting, in many
instances, there were not enough
		

			firefighters. We arranged to pay
to bring additional persona in.
		

			There was never enough water or
energy, biscuits or food for
		

			firefighters in several fires. We
did that even in the one in
		

			Johannesburg last week. We did it
in raisna with the UCT fires for
		

			the fires in kabeha in November,
December last year. Let's take
		

			that one and I can finish off here
with my 10 minutes up. Just to use
		

			a classical example of how we are
not ready. The fire hits parts of
		

			kabiha through the credit of the
fire acting fire chief Wayne
		

			hedricks, from the area no ego
understood to save the city. He
		

			needs help. He calls us. He tells
us four or five critical pieces of
		

			information, my trucks cannot
reach the fire. Number one, the
		

			wind is very strong, so the fire
is burning, but these trucks can't
		

			reach the fire. My Trucks can't
get to a water point fast enough.
		

			Number three, we almost on day
zero, so we don't have water.
		

			Number four, we don't have
firefighters. Number five, we
		

			cannot replenish our firefighters.
What food, what energy, biscuits,
		

			what drink. We got a pro there is
no funding. National Government
		

			doesn't step in provision.
Government doesn't step in. The
		

			municipality is left alone. It
doesn't step in, and the
		

			firefighters are left alone.
There's a political flaw in the
		

			system in which we operate, and
the politics got a big role to
		

			play with us. We look at cities
and say, okay, which party is
		

			collecting controlling the city.
We need to change that thinking
		

			those parties they collect, but
the citizens are all South
		

			African, and we need to look at
South African citizens as South
		

			African citizens, not which party
they belong to. We.
		

			Have to change our thinking and
have messed with my side chain.
		

			What are the exaggeration? Had we
not intervened, how would have
		

			been burned to the ground? Ask
anybody that they will tell you
		

			immediately when he said that he
can't reach the fire. We sent in
		

			two helicopters and two planes at
our cost. We've paid people to be
		

			additional firefighters. We
brought them from down the road
		

			from Johans dock and Jeffrey's bay
area to have an assist. We brought
		

			in trucks to support the fire
trucks. We have drilled 50
		

			boreholes in PE because of Day
Zero. We opened those balls to
		

			supply our trucks and the fire
trucks, and we, the local
		

			citizens, got involved. They came
with their buckies. They came with
		

			Georgia. Thanks for their buckies.
We felt that and what they have.
		

			We fought the fire over five days,
in fact, and also to feed the
		

			firefighters. We gave them bottled
water, energy drinks, energy food,
		

			hot meals. In those days that they
fought, they really fought. Well,
		

			South African disaster personnel
are world class. They are
		

			dedicated. They committed. They're
part of government, and they
		

			committed people, but we need to
make the resources available to
		

			support them to do their job
properly. The final point, as we
		

			were walking through the malls,
people came touched us, and this
		

			was swabbing, and they said Our
house was about to burn, the mall
		

			was about to burn, other adverse
about to burn, and your
		

			helicopters and your planes came
and dropped the water from the sky
		

			and burned the fire out. So these
are practical examples. It's not
		

			rocket science. We need a better
system, and I want to make a
		

			proposal or a request to
government pop off 1 billion rand
		

			in a fund controlled by Treasury,
the details of which can be used
		

			for disaster intervention, because
the reality is, since the tsunami
		

			of 2004
		

			the number of disasters are
increasing, and the frequency and
		

			intensity and the degree of
destruction is increasing, so we
		

			need to consider those proposals.
Thank you very much for this
		

			opportunity. Thank you very much
for talking to you, and we can
		

			always share ideas some at some
other point. And I wish you all
		

			the best, and all in this country,
you.