eThekwini says it’s making great strides in housing for flood victims

The eThekwini Municipality says great strides have been made in constructing housing projects for displaced flood victims in different parts of the city.

Residents staying in temporary residential accommodation in the Isipingo area, south of Durban, will soon move into their permanent homes as the Kanku Road housing project with 360 units is halfway complete.

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The municipality said on Thursday that, as part of government’s effort to enhance emergency housing response during disasters, it visited some of these communities with the minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi together with deputy minister Pam Tshwete.

Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda led inspections of various sites being used to accommodate displaced flood victims in KwaZulu-Natal. This was to learn how to better respond to disasters
The April 2022 floods left more than 14 449 people displaced with 4 983 left totally homeless and all district municipalities were affected, with Ugu, King Cetshwayo, uMgungundlovu, KwaDukuza, Msunduzi, Ilembe and the eThekwini municipalities being worst hit.

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Other areas visited included the O’Flaherty transitional emergency accommodation in Reservoir Hills and Klaarwater in Mariannhill, Durban.

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In the O’Flaherty residence, more than 50 people had occupied the accommodation after they were moved from the Truro Hall in Westville.

These residents, who were originally from the Reservoir Hills area, had already been moved twice.

After there were contractual disputes between government and the landlord of the unit they were meant to move into from Truro Hall, they were placed in the Durban Royal Hotel for a week.

The site visits done by the minister will culminate in the Minmec to deliberate on progress in disaster management in various provinces, the performance of the sector in the delivery of housing units and the review of budget allocations for provinces in the current financial year,” said the Department of Human Settlements’ spokesperson, Hlengiwe Nhlabathi-Mokota.