When will flood victims be moved into permanent homes?

30 October 2023

The IFP, as the Official Opposition in the KZN Legislature, calls upon the KZN MEC for Human Settlements, Sipho Nkosi, to provide a clear timeframe on when flood victims will be moved to permanent homes.

We have once again experienced heavy rains, as it has been the case in Mtubatuba over the past few days.

This is a stark reminder that we still have people staying in temporary shelters since being displaced by floods in April 2022 and in previous years.

The ANC-led government must hang its head in shame. This is an indictment on the ANC-led-government, which has clearly lost the spirit of Ubuntu towards floods victims.

This lack of action on the part of government puts lives at risk, as many people are without houses, with some still staying in shacks, and others left homeless.

This, despite the KZN Department of Human Settlements’ R4.3 billion budget for the 2023/24 Financial Year and their promise that 13 parcels of land had been identified to build houses for flood victims. Disaster backlogs continue to accumulate, yet during 2017-2019 and 2019-2020 KZN Department of Human Settlements underspent on their budget allocation by R397 million.

In June, the response from the KZN MEC for Human Settlements, Sipho Nkosi, to an IFP parliamentary question regarding the promised houses, failed to provide a clear timeframe. He instead stated that prior to construction, various detailed planning milestones are required, such as the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act approval and related environmental authorisations. Apparently, the 13 land parcels are currently at the various detailed stages of the planning process, and once planning has been completed, the project will proceed to construction.

We want to know when the people who are still staying in temporary shelters will be moved into their permanent homes? The MEC must provide dates. How much progress has been made on the 13 land parcels announced by the government to build houses for flood victims?

As the IFP, we want to know: what will happen when another flood disaster strikes? We call on the ANC to stop gambling with people’s lives, to deliver on their promises, and to fast-track the provision of homes for all flood victims.

Issued by Thokozile Gumede, IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson for Human Settlements, 30 October 2023