Hail the size of ice cubes plummeted from the sky last week in some parts of South Africa, bringing down with it twigs, leaves and flowers.
In some areas, branches of decade-old trees shattered to the ground, while in others, trees were uprooted by the strong winds and rain, and blocked streets and roads, rendering them inaccessible to pedestrians and motorists. All the charm and splendour of the beginning of summer was wiped away in one downpour.
It was a petrifying experience to witness how in a matter of a few hours an amber sky hinting at the possibility of cool summer day turned a freakish grey and unleashed the fury of a storm that left a path of destruction in its trail.The most pleasant part of driving – or walking – down the street on which our offices are situated in Dunkeld West, in northern Joburg, is taking in the beauty of the tree-lined streets and the manicured sidewalks gardens. The whites, pinks, purples and blues of hydrangeas are a sight for sore eyes. And this past Monday it was no different.
But by early evening as one was driving up the usually picturesque street with the car camouflaged in an assortment of vegetation and debris, it was a sad scene to see some of the hydrangeas either stark naked or covered by a peppering of petals.
The jacarandas had been stripped to their brown branches and the blooms of bougainvillea trees stuck to car windows like children clinging to their mothers’ skirts. The road was a slippery green carpet. Some lawns were still covered in a layer of ice long after the rain, wind and hailstorm had caused havoc in parts of Gauteng.
Oh, how the weather is adding to the gloom following the release of the report on the Section 89 inquiry into the Phala Phala game farm saga and the nail-biting wait to find out who the new leaders of the ANC will be.
Oh, how nature is also putting things into perspective and imploring us to not lose sight of how fragile our country is to different kinds of disasters. We have been spending a lot of resources to deal with man-made disasters. As it is, we are deep into man-made disasters and paying a handsome price too as we have learnt through the state capture inquiry, the Covid-19 corruption cases, and the rationing of power and water, which has become our normal way of life. The floods in KwaZulu-Natal have also exposed the weaknesses in our systems and our response to
assist the displaced.
As the effects of climate change become more pronounced with droughts, storms and heat waves happening more frequently and with greater intensity, how is our capacity to respond to these disasters? We have proven we have a well-developed system of creating man-made disasters. Are our systems to respond to natural disasters just as well-developed?
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