Eastern Cape govt declares day of mourning for victims of destructive flooding

JOHANNESBURG - The Eastern Cape provincial government has declared Thursday a day of mourning in memory of those who died in Mthatha recently.

Basic services such as water are being restored to the affected areas with tankers concentrating on supplying water to health centres, including forensic teams to continue conducting post-mortems.

At the same time, humanitarian aid group Gift of the Givers says rescue teams are still combing through areas in Mthatha for more missing bodies that were swept away during floods there recently. 

The death toll in the deadly floods in Mthatha still stands at 90.

Gift of the Givers' Ali Sablay says the operation is unlikely to end anytime soon.

“This operation as I’m looking at it now, won’t be done by this week or by next week. The humanitarian operation will go [on for] weeks to come. In terms of humanitarian need, there’s a huge [need] at the moment for mattresses, blankets, personal hygiene care packs, baby care packs, as more and more people are coming to community halls.”