KWAZULU-NATAL businesses are investing to mitigate against the impact of the inclement weather, according to Andrzej Kiepiela, the co-ordinator of the KwaZulu-Natal Growth Coalition.
On Tuesday a mini-tornado caused damage between Inanda and Phoenix, north of Durban, leading Business Report to investigate how business is planning for inclement weather.
Kiepiela said the rebuilding of infrastructure, which had continuously been damaged by the inclement weather in KwaZulu-Natal, should not just be about replacing what had been damaged, but also about building for future potential disasters.
The KwaZulu-Natal Growth Coalition communicates with more than 350 CEOs, and with an an expanded list of 500.
The coalition hosts regular Friday meetings, co-chaired by Kiepiela, and eThekwini municipal manager Musa Mbhele, which discusses infrastructure, particularly since the July 2021 unrest and floods experienced in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of the country last year.
Big businesses such as Toyota, Sapref, Engen and Mondi, which operate in the region, were affected by these events.
“We do not only discuss the maintenance of the infrastructure but also improvements, and building it better,” Kiepiela said.
According to the coalition, the floods last year - but not the recent weather - had a huge impact on business.
Businesses were now taking proactive action and locating themselves in areas which were safe, he said.
It was only through public-private partnerships and using the latest and best technologies available worldwide that they could go forward. “That is what we are trying to do,” he said.
Kiepiela said the the negative exposure - both locally and internationally - that KZN garnered from flooding was not good for investment.
“This creates doubt in the minds of investors as to whether this is the right region to go. It is also a great consideration when assessing losses,” he said.
Professor Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, a lecturer in Climate Change and Food Systems at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said it was important to note that the recent extreme weather experienced in KZN was normal, although extreme.
“The tornado was as a result of a storm that initially developed at the sea and then hit land during the afternoon. It was initially cyclic but later moved inward, resulting in the damage that was witnessed. The heavy rainfall, which resulted in localised flooding and landslides, was due to torrential rainfall affecting the coastal area.
“So, these are all defined within the context of weather variability and weather extremes. At this stage, we cannot attribute these two events to climate change as that would require a proper attribution study,” Mabhaudhi said.
However, broadly speaking, he said, what they did understand was that climate change was already increasing the likelihood and intensity of weather extremes.
“As such, given that broader understanding, we should be building preparedness, focusing on resilient cities and adapting to climate change.”
Mabhaudhi said, based on what they currently knew from the modelling, by 2050 KZN was projected to experience increased temperatures, rainfall variability, evaporation rates and drought, storms and flooding, and a sea-level rise.
“However, we also know that, based on history, that KZN has a history of flooding. So some of these hazards have always existed, but are now getting worse. There is a significant human element to it as well, which explains the links to the magnitude of the disaster such as lives and property lost relative to previous events," he said.
BUSINESS REPORT