As floodwaters recede in South Africa to reveal hundreds of bodies and the remnants of lost lives, a picture is emerging of how mismanagement and corruption by the nation’s socialist government contributed to the gravity and depth of one of the nation’s worst natural disasters.
A storm erupted over eastern KwaZulu-Natal province on April 18, dumping almost three-quarters of the country’s entire annual rainfall on the region’s coastal belt within 24 hours. Rain continued for almost a week, causing extensive flooding and mudslides.
Police and the government have confirmed more than 450 deaths, and the toll is expected to rise as scores of people swept away by torrents and buried in mudslides remain missing.
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