Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has promised to relocate all flood victims living in community centres by the end of next month.
At a media briefing at Truro Hall in Westville in Durban on Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the national department of human settlements had granted nearly R326 million to the provincial department from the provincial emergency housing grant for the provision of emergency housing solutions, which had enabled the government to fast-track the building of temporary houses.
Furthermore, flood victims residing at Truro Hall in Westville were relocated on Sunday to a better facility that was previously a student housing complex.
Dube-Ncube said the facility had 50 lockable rooms, each with two or three beds, 112 beds; CCTV cameras; hot water; a perimeter fence; a security gate with biometric features; a kitchen with four four-plate stoves; a lounge; a kids’ homework area; en suite and common bathrooms and a guardhouse.
“The Department of Social Development will issue vouchers to the families during the course of the week to assist (them) in procuring food items. Furthermore, we have reduced the number of centres housing flood victims from 135 to 80,” she said.
Dube-Ncube added that construction was under way a few kilometres down the road from Truro Hall, where the departments of human settlements and public works were building 80 new state-of-the-art three-storey buildings that would become permanent homes for those who lost theirs in the floods.
She said this initiative had enabled the delivery of temporary residential units, of which there were now 1 315 provincially. She said of the 1 315 units completed, 1 202 had been occupied, leaving 113 not yet occupied.
She said she was delighted to report that all the remaining 80 shelters had now been linked to land parcels, but these land parcels were at different stages of readiness.
“We appreciate the approval of the rental assistance scheme and temporary residential accommodation, which will (allow us to) achieve the eradication of all mass care centres,” she said.
The plan to move people out of community care centres going forward will involve utilising eight existing land parcels (including Cottonlands) that are at the site-clearance stage. It is anticipated that 1 064 temporary residential units will be built on this land. In addition, the acquisition of land at La Mercy is now at an advanced stage, with all the necessary approvals secured and sale agreements circulated.
“The option of temporary emergency accommodation where we do not build Lindelas, but house people temporarily while we are building their permanent accommodation, is a dramatic change in approach and testifies to the government’s commitment to improve the lives of our communities in distress.
“We have established a specialised technical team led by the director-general that will focus on getting people out of community care centres and all the mop-up operations,” said Dube-Ncube.
She said they had 19 buildings they were looking at for temporary emergency accommodation, and these included former student accommodation, as well as former hotels and state-owned properties.
The premier further indicated that these properties were not being used. They included Westpoint, Montclair and Ntuzuma former KFC land, and would allow for 60 temporary residential units to be constructed.
“The criteria is that we look for existing accommodation and consider whether it is habitable. Does it have basic services, water, electricity, sanitation, cooking facilities, laundry, and so on. We are doing 100 temporary residential units a week, and six districts will, as of today, complete their allocation of these units,” said Dube-Ncube.
The floods, which were the most damaging experienced by the country since 1987, had left a trail of infrastructure destruction and cost 435 lives, with several people still missing.
The floods had displaced more than 40 000 people, and some were still trapped in community centres. According to the government, 27 bodies had still not been claimed by their families and were still in mortuaries.
Daily News