Five months after floods wreaked havoc in KwaZulu-Natal, the provincial government says “it has made remarkable progress” in the resettlement of displaced families.
Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the national department of human settlements gave R325m to the provincial department from the provincial emergency housing grant for the provision of emergency housing solutions.
“The department of co-operative governance, through the National Disaster Management Centre, co-ordinates the submission of funding requests for emergency relief measures from organs of state that incurred damages due to flooding. To date the total amount of R406.8m has been received by the affected municipalities to perform various works,” Dube-Ncube said.
Speaking on Sunday after 37 families were relocated to temporary quarters at a 50-roomed building equipped with water and electricity in Westville, the premier said the plan is to focus on permanent homes for the displaced and rebuild damaged infrastructure.
In April, heavy rains claimed the lives of nearly 500 people, with more than 60 reported missing, and caused damage to public infrastructure estimated at R25bn. The damage was mainly to roads, railways, bridges, housing, water and sanitation works, electricity supplies, agriculture and manufacturing plants. Damage to business was put at R7bn.
Altogether 85,280 people were affected and nearly 5,000 families were displaced after the floods. The cost to accommodate all the identified households in temporary residential units until permanent houses are constructed totalled R342.13m.
Cost of repairs
The floods damaged 356 schools. The provincial education department estimates that repairs will cost R235.38m.
“As we relocate these families here, earthworks and construction are under way ... the department of human settlements and public works is building 80 new state of the art three-storey buildings that will become permanent homes for those whose lives and livelihoods were devastated by the floods,” Dube-Ncube said.
“Government has put in place a practical plan to move people out of community care centres by the end of November 2022. To date we have reduced these centres from 135 to 80. The emergency housing grant has enabled the delivery of 1,315 temporary residential units provincially.”
She said land north of Durban at Cotton Lands was being cleared to accommodate 1,064 temporary residential units. In addition, the acquisition of land at La Mercy was at an advanced stage and Nomusa Dube-Ncube says focus is on permanent homes for displaced people and rebuilding damaged infrastructure approvals and sale agreements were being secured.
“We are making progress in rebuilding the water schemes that were washed away. We are on course to get the construction work and to ensure the full restoration of water supply to the greater Othongathi by November. Repairs are under way on sewer networks and sewer pump stations. It is intended that most of these repairs will be completed by the end of November,” Dube-Ncube said.
A specialised team led by director-general Nonhlanhla Mkhize is responsible for getting people out of community care centres.
Mkhize is out on R25,000 bail after appearing in the Durban specialised commercial crimes court in connection with the 2018 Mhlathuze Water procurement project.
Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke recently flagged several procurement breaches in KwaZulu-Natal’s flood relief interventions to fix state-owned properties damaged during the floods. She said the government’s response to the floods was too slow and the province needed nearly 5,000 temporary housing structures, but in April only about 1,000 had been built.
Another finding was that some temporary residential units for displaced families provided by the provincial department of human settlements were defective, not built to specification and showed signs of poor workmanship.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.