KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma, Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane and eThekwini Municipality Mayor Cyril Xaba at Impala Holiday Flats in South Beach, Durban, where Lamontville flood victims are currently housed.
Image: Sibonelo Ngcobo/ Independent Newspapers
Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane asked what happened to former president Nelson Mandela’s teachings on the spirit of Ubuntu following reports of flood victims being chased away.
Simelane is in KZN to discuss various human settlement interventions with the provincial and local spheres following the recent and ongoing floods in the province.
KZN Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma and eThekwini Municipality mayor Cyril Xaba accompanied Simelane.
Interventions:
Minister Simelane said she is told communities do not want flood victims on government land where they want to erect Temporary Residential Units (TRUs).
“Where does this come from, that we moved away from what Madiba taught us, Ubuntu, that we have been raised on?” Simelane asked.
She explained that the government’s responsibility is to look for land closer to where victims lived so they could continue their lives normally. Currently, some children are missing school and others would miss exams.
“Their lives have been disturbed. They are in a very difficult state of life, and I can’t imagine there will be a South African who can come up and say government, this is your land, but don’t bring your people here, vulnerable, as they are, because I don’t want them, because my house is going to be devalued,” Simelane said.
She said they would engage with stakeholders and communities without being forceful.
Simelane added that their budget for emergency funding at national is around R800 million and KZN claims a large, substantial amount.
“We are reducing because we want to … allocate you a place permanently so that even if you have got means to build for yourself, you can then be able to build if government is unable to allocate the house,” Simelane said.
“Since 2022 we have lost R3.5 billion because of fiscal discipline or cost-cutting measures. So this is why we continue having a problem because we don’t have to create a myth that tomorrow we’ll build, which is why the Minister speaks about TRUs in particular, but later on after the identity of those land parcels we’re then going to do something else.,” Duma said about the backlog.
He said that when they find land to build on, they must inform stakeholders that construction is prohibited in the following areas: wetlands, river frontage, riverbanks, and waterlogged areas.
“The climate condition is here to stay with us, so we just have to adapt and build what we call a resilience adaptation system when it comes to housing, which is already what we are doing,” Duma added.
Mayor Xaba said flooding during heavy rains is related mainly to the size of the storm event, the capacity of the stormwater systems and the nature of the debris carried by the stormwater into the stormwater systems.
“Therefore, we are constantly pleading with both residents and businesses to dispose of waste in designated areas,” Xaba said.
He said the stormwater systems are designed to handle a one in 10-year storm event flow at critical points. Therefore, the recurring floods must be examined against this capacity to understand the risks.
The City has introduced several proactive initiatives to mitigate flood risk and reduce the effects of flooding:
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