December 7 disasters |06 January 2024

(L to r) Mrs Morin, PS Perine and Mr Songor during the press briefing

One-off payment of R25, 000 nearly completed

As from early next week, 491 individuals affected by the December 7 disasters would have received their R25, 000, which amounts to R12,275,000.

This was shared by the chief executive of the Agency for Social Protection (ASP), Brenda Morin, yesterday during an interview along with officials from the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, to give an update on the one-off payment announced by the President on December 15.

Mrs Morin explained that since December 27, 2023, ASP has transferred 224 files to the finance ministry for a total of R5,600,000.

“Today, January 5, 2024, ASP has processed and transferred 267 files to the finance ministry for payment amounting to a total of R6,675,000.”

“I am very proud of the progress made in these two weeks,” said Mrs Morin.

“It should be noted that some files have been returned to the local government department, as some bank details were incorrect or the accounts were inactive,” added Mrs Morin.

For his part, Principal Secretary for Local Government and Community Affairs, Kevin Perine, said the ministry has worked on 500 files, to date. “This is a satisfying number within a short period of time, considering we had a long public holiday and staff resumed duty on Wednesday,” said Mr Perine.

With regard to families in shelters, the PS explained there are presently nine families at Stad Linite, which is a total of 27 people. There remain nine families occupying 15 rooms at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casino, while five families are at Petit Seminaire, which is a total of 21 people.

“This shows we are doing a lot of work to assist everybody and we have only 103 people left in shelters.”

The ministry has received 125 mattresses, 100 fans, 30 fridges, and 30 washing machines that have already been distributed to the families, and 60 mattresses which will be distributed to families as soon as they return to their homes, said Mr Perine.

Meanwhile, the ministry shared that the 168 boxes of donation from the United Arab Emirates government were being distributed to families yesterday, while 200 boxes have already been allocated.

Also present for the press conference was Romano Songor, executive director in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs.

Kassey Govinden

Photo by Kurtrine Albert