Pretoria – Civil rights movement #NotInMyName has partnered with retail group Shoprite to distribute food aid to hundreds of Mamelodi residents who were displaced by floods which wreaked havoc in Gauteng.
“The recent floods in and around Tshwane have left communities in Eerste Fabrieke and Nellmapius displaced.
“Community members are being evacuated to shelters identified by the City of Tshwane. About 500 households have been affected in that area,” said #NotInMyName secretary-general Themba Masango.
“Through the partnership with Shoprite, we have managed to provide relief in the form of a mobile kitchen and food parcels to the affected families.”
Masango said the good Samaritans were joined by Tshwane’s Social Development and Community Services mayoral committee member Peggy de Bruin on the food distribution trips.
On Tuesday, the Tshwane Emergency Services Department said the number of fatalities caused by the flooding had risen to four.
“In a continued search for possible victims who might have been swept away in the floods, the SAPS recovered the body of a man on the afternoon of February 6 from a bakkie that was washed away in the Centurion area on the night of February 5,” said Thabo Charles Mabaso, Tshwane Emergency Services deputy chief.
The Tshwane Emergency Services confirmed reports that the body of a man who allegedly drowned in his shack at Soul City informal settlement in Mamelodi had been recovered by the police and the pathology services.
On Wednesday, Mabaso said search teams found the body of a woman in the Olifantspruit river near Irene.
The search team had been combing the area for a missing Uber driver and passenger. The woman found on Wednesday is believed to be the Uber passenger.
The City of Tshwane has expressed gratitude to organisations including Gift of the Givers, Shoprite, #NotInMyName and local churches for the donations which have alleviated the suffering of displaced community members.
Tshwane said the received donations would be distributed to affected communities in Nellmapius, Mamelodi West and Hammanskraal.
IOL