President Ramaphosa Deploys Army to cyclone-hit Mozambique to help with recovery efforts

March 18, 2019
| Report Focus News

The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has deployed country soldiers to assist in recovery operations in neighboring Mozambique, which has been badly hit by Cyclone Idai.

The cyclone has killed at least 250 people across southern Africa.

Mozambique’s port city of Beira has borne the brunt of the cyclone – the Red Cross said that the impact on it was “massive and horrifying”.

The storm has also affected electricity supplies to South Africa after it damaged a transmission line in Mozambique, cutting supplies by 900 MW and worsening an already strained electricity supply in the country.

The SA president Ramaphosa said that the power supply would be restored within days because the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was helping the country’s electricity provider Eskom with the pylons.

“But I am certain that we are going to be able to turn it around within the next two days because our defence force is already there helping with rescue operations, but we’ve already asked them to go and see how we can get the pylons to also be restored,” he said.