The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) conveys its deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the families and communities who have lost their loved ones following the devastating floods, snowfall, and extreme weather that have struck the Eastern Cape. According to reports from the police and emergency services, at least 49 lives have now been tragically lost.
We mourn with the affected families. These are ordinary working-class communities — the poor, the unemployed, pensioners, informal traders, farm workers, and their children — whose lives have once again been shattered by a disaster they neither caused nor were adequately protected from.
This tragedy comes on the back of previous extreme climate events that have devastated parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape in recent years. Thousands of lives have been lost, homes destroyed, and livelihoods wiped out by the increasing frequency and ferocity of floods, storms, droughts, fires and landslides that are all part of the accelerating climate crisis. Climate change is no longer a distant or future threat — it is already here, and it is the working class who bear the brunt.
SAFTU raises the critical question: is our government — and in particular local government — adequately prepared for climate change? The evidence suggests not. Despite repeated disasters, we continue to see the same fatal policy failures:
• Municipalities allowing or failing to prevent housing developments on riverbanks, floodplains, and unstable land.
• Absence of proper spatial planning, land allocation, and provision of safe, affordable housing for the poor.
• Failure to upgrade drainage, stormwater and flood protection infrastructure that has long been neglected.
• Inadequate disaster risk reduction, early warning systems, and emergency response capacity.
The Eastern Cape, like Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal before it, illustrates once again that we are sitting on a disaster waiting to happen. Vulnerable people, often desperate for a roof over their heads, are allowed or forced to settle in high-risk areas, while state authorities turn a blind eye. When disaster strikes, it is the poorest who pay with their lives.
SAFTU calls for:
- Urgent national action to audit and relocate vulnerable settlements in flood-prone areas before further tragedies occur.
- A massive public investment plan to rebuild climate-resilient infrastructure, including stormwater systems, bridges, and rural road networks.
- A comprehensive disaster management and climate adaptation plan fully funded and led by government, with democratic oversight and full public participation.
- Holding accountable all officials who have allowed reckless land use and unsafe development that expose poor communities to danger.
We must break the cycle of disaster, condolence, and empty promises. The climate crisis demands both emergency response and structural change to protect the most vulnerable.
SAFTU stands with the people of Eastern Cape. Their grief is our grief. Their pain is our pain.
A Statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU by General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For more details, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
066 168 2157
Newtonm@saftu.org.za
