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On Saturday, KwaZulu-Natal’s cooperative governance and traditional affairs department took to Twitter to appeal to South Africans to donate to flood relief efforts, posting an account number into which people could deposit money, but South Africans were sceptical about whether their cash would in fact reach those who needed it.
Twitter user ZB Kotze replied to the department’s tweet with a picture account details for Gift of the Givers with the caption: “Here is a much better account to make your donation count. No hard feelings, but track record matters.”
READ: 12 000 Family homes destroyed in devastating floods
Melanie Webb wrote: “Sorry, but no. No one trusts you guys anymore. I’d rather donate to [Gift of the Givers].”
Mulberry Cottage tweeted: “Why would anyone hand over money to the ANC? Why would anyone trust the ANC with donations for flood victims? The Gift of the Givers would be a better choice.”
Briefing the media on Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala tried to quell that sentiment, promising that officials would not do as they pleased with the funds.
Zikalala said:
IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa on Monday handed over R250 000 to the disaster response NGO Gift of the Givers.
Hlabisa said they decided to donate to the organisation because they had been on the ground since the beginning.
READ: KZN rain bomb was last seen five or six generations ago
“They have sufficient infrastructure to reach every part of eThekwini.” He said:
More than 400 people died during the floods last week, with scores still missing and thousands displaced.
Zikalala said that while they were just looking for the missing and helping those without clothes and housing at first, “right now we must start looking at ways of rebuilding”.
“We need to act with speed in recovery, removing all hindrances, including containers that lie on the road, as they remain a grim reminder of the devastation,” he said.
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