eThekwini responds to DA's claim about flood victims as 'political grandstanding'
At least 150 people were left stranded when the Bayside Hotel threw them out on the street over the delayed payment of R128 million by government.
The DA has called on the SA Human Rights Commission and Public Protector to investigate human rights violations, citing the municipality's account for the eviction.
The metro has refuted the claims accusing the DA of playing politics.
Last week, when the flood victims were left destitute, Human Settlement MEC Siboniso Duma went to Gauteng to meet the ministry to resolve the matter.
This was followed by a R30 million purchase of the Montclair Lodge to house the flood victims.
Despite this intervention, the DA said the metro should have acted first since the victims are residents of eThekwini.
DA eThekwini caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa, said, 'Whether those people were put in there by the national or provincial government, as part of the District Development Model the Municipality should have taken responsibility in making sure that they are taken care of.'
Meanwhile city spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said, 'The actions of reporting the Bayside Hotel evictions of the flood victims to the Human Rights Commission and the Public Protector is an exercise in futility, and desperate political grandstanding because the matter relating to the dignified resettlement of flood victims has been sufficiently dealt with by all spheres of government.'
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