Durban — EThekwini Municipality and cultural expert professor Sihawu Ngubane have urged flood victims not to use culture as their reason for refusing to be relocated to the new areas identified by the municipality and government.
This was after councillors reported to the municipalities that some of the families that were affected by the April floods were refusing to go to the new houses citing cultural reasons like family graves.
Ward 9 councillor Nonsikelelo Msomi in Molweni township outside Hillcrest west of Durban, told the Daily News on Thursday that in her ward, the Mnikathi family whose home was destroyed by floods refused to be relocated.
She said the family said it wanted the municipality to rebuild its home where it was because it could not leave the graves behind.
Msomi said the family was one of the 80 families which the municipality had secured land to build them new houses in the township.
The family in question, contacted the paper on Tuesday complaining that they had still not received the building material, as promised by the government. The family also complained that no one was liaising with them for any assistance.
Msomi said the family was not telling the truth, saying it was the family that refused to be relocated because it could not leave its family graves behind.
Cultural expert Ngubane said families should not use culture as an excuse, saying Africans know that there are rituals where the family would collect the spirits of the dead and take them to new homes.
He said that process was common among Africans where the head of the family would through a certain ritual informing the dead about relocating and ask the ancestors to leave with the family to the new home.
“People should not risk death and live in steep areas or continue staying next to cliffs and cite cultural reasons because there is no such culture that prevents people from relocating to other areas. Who is guarding their graves in the cities because no one is allowed to bury them at home? This family is not giving a valid reason and I would like to urge all families who may think likewise that there is no such culture in an African system,” said Ngubane.
Tholwaphi Mnikathi from Molweni agreed that she had raised the issue of graves but her family was willing to relocate after it was advised about the danger of rebuilding in the same site that was washed away by heavy rains.
Apart from the family, others are rebuilding for themselves where their houses were washed away according to the eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa. He said the municipality has a problem with such people because it had warned them not to return to the damaged areas since they were risky.
“As the city, we are busy issuing vouchers for building materials to the families whose houses were damaged but were built in suitable areas. We wish to make it clear that the city will not give materials to the people who would go and rebuild houses in low-lying areas where they were vulnerable to new floods,” Mntungwa said.
Daily News