A new report by Amnesty International has called on the SA government to move with speed to address the squalor and deprivation in informal settlements in the country’s key economic hubs of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
The report, titled “Flooded and Forgotten: Informal Settlements and the Right to Housing in SA”, said about 5-million citizens were living under harsh conditions, made worse by frequent flooding as climate change challenges come to the fore.
The report is the fruit of an eight-month study conducted by Amnesty International in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, which collectively account for a large chunk of SA’s economic output and jobs.
The study found that despite SA having laws and policies on issues around access to housing, provision of essential services like water and sanitation, and upgrading of informal settlements, the government had failed to realise these obligations.
It said this failure by authorities comes at a “huge cost” to the human rights, lives and livelihoods of millions of people.
“Informal settlements in SA, along with other underserved areas like temporary relocation areas, are a sore reminder of the racial injustice and disenfranchisement that were hallmarks of the colonial and apartheid regimes preceding 1994,” Amnesty International SA executive director Shenilla Mohamed said.
“However, this does not mean that we must ignore the fact that the ongoing housing crisis and the failure of successive governments to guarantee the right to access to adequate housing, among other human rights,” she said.
“The government is failing the millions of people trapped in these underserved areas, especially in a time when economic hardships and poverty are rife. People live in informal settlements because there is a lack of affordable and accessible formal housing and sometimes because they are the only affordable means of living close to work or work opportunities.”
The release of the damning report comes just weeks before SA hosts the G20 summit under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”, with strengthening disaster resilience and response as one of the four overarching priorities.
One of the key recommendations in the report is for the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government to “urgently disclose details of any inquiry carried out into the decision to relocate households impacted by the 2022 floods in Lamontville, eThekwini,” and any lessons learnt from the tragedy.
The report also calls for the provincial government to ensure that victims of the 2022 floods in the province who have been housed in temporary emergency accommodation are not evicted under circumstances that render them homeless or leave them without access to adequate housing.
The disastrous flood that hit Durban in April 2022 was the most catastrophic natural disaster yet recorded in KwaZulu-Natal in collective terms of lives lost, homes and infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and economic impact.
More than 450 people lost their lives, more than 4,000 homes were destroyed, and 40,000 people were left homeless, with economic losses put at about R50bn.
Toyota’s insurer, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, is suing the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, Transnet and Durban for R6.5bn over damages the motor company suffered at its Prospecton plant during the 2022 floods.
The basis of the lawsuit is that the responsible authorities failed to maintain critical flood prevention infrastructure.
Amnesty International did not mince its words on government failure to provide for the needs of informal settlements.
“The reality, as documented in Amnesty International’s report, is that millions of South Africans living in informal settlements are deprived of these rights due to central government neglect, under-resourced municipalities, and poor urban governance, not simply because their settlements are unplanned,” Mohamed said.
“The lack of access to adequate, well-located affordable housing in SA has also led to the growth of informal settlements in floodplains and low-lying areas, which means that people living there are increasingly impacted by flooding.”
