News24 | No power meant no weather warnings, Mthatha residents tell Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing Decoligny village residents in Mthatha on Friday.

• Decoligny residents have claimed that a four-month power cut prevented them from receiving flood warnings through the media.
• King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality defended its decision to disconnect residents, citing illegal settlement on private land.
• Premier Oscar Mabuyane announced a provincial day of mourning as the death toll reached 78, with rescue efforts ongoing. 

Decoligny village residents in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, an epicentre of deadly floods that have led to the loss of at least 78 lives, claimed they did not hear weather warnings because they were disconnected from the power supply.

Resident Mangcitshana Gazula told President Cyril Ramaphosa when he visited their village on Friday afternoon that they had been without power since February.

Speaking to News24 after addressing Ramaphosa and several other key government officials who visited the displaced residents who are housed at the village’s local school, Gazula accused King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality of failing them.

“It is the municipal officials who disconnected us. Our village has been in the dark for the past four months. We are not listening to the radio or watching television. We recharge our cellphones from residents of the nearby villages.”

Gazula claimed when they enquired about the disconnection, municipal officials told them the land on which they built their houses was in dispute.

READ | Ramaphosa takes residents’ calls for probe into deadly Mthatha floods on board

She pleaded with Ramaphosa to help them reconnect their electricity.

KSD Local Municipality mayor Nyaniso Nelani confirmed to News24 that municipal officials had disconnected the village.

Nelani said Decoligny residents “settled themselves on private land” without approval from the municipality.

The mayor said:

“The case we opened is still being investigated.”

Premier Oscar Mabuyane said he sympathised with the residents.

“Of course, we condemn this kind of behaviour when people are illegally connecting themselves to the grid. Now that we are aware of the situation, we will address it,” Mabuyane said.

On Friday afternoon, rescue teams were still searching for bodies as some residents remained unaccounted for in the village.

Buntu Bhonase recounted a precarious predicament he found himself in on Tuesday morning. After climbing up a tree to escape the flood, he made an unexpected discovery: a snake that he said looked ready to pounce on him.

He said he chose to throw himself into the water and take his chances.

Bhonase said:

“I then used a stick to walk to safety and saw other people trying to help,” said Bhonase.

“I said it was better for me to let go of the tree option because that snake was ready to bite me, maybe it also felt endangered,” he said.

“In the end, I escaped from the snake and also survived the floods.”

READ | Man recounts saving himself and mother with rooftop escape during severe floods in Mthatha

Addressing the media in Mthatha on Friday evening, Mabuyane said the death toll was still at 78.

Meanwhile, Mabuyane announced that Thursday, 19 June, would be a day of mourning for the Eastern Cape and the country at large to pay their respects to the deceased.

Mabuyane said autopsies had been conducted on about 30 bodies so far.

It was not clear when the victims would be buried.

Mabuyane said a mass burial would be organised for victims who would be buried in Mthatha.

OR Tambo District Mayor Mesuli Ngqondwana said the council had declared a state of district disaster after a meeting on Friday.