Human Settlements department seeks additional R128 million for flood victims' accommodation
Image: SIBONELO NGCOBO / Independent Newspapers
Human Settlements needs an additional R128 million to continue accommodating the flood victims who are currently living in hotels and other private accommodations across Durban.
It has spent approximately R185 million on about five or six accommodations, including hotels throughout the city that are housing the displaced families since 2022.
The department revealed this yesterday after approximately 189 individuals and 64 families who were being accommodated at the Bayside Hotel in Durban were evicted on Wednesday night due to non-payment for their accommodation. It was not immediately clear how much was owed at this one hotel and whether the families in the other accommodation facilities were also at risk.
The department confirmed yesterday afternoon that new accommodation had been found for those evicted from the Bayside Hotel. Ndabe Sibiya, the spokesperson for the MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, Siboniso Duma, said the MEC had urgently flown to Gauteng yesterday to meet with the National Minister of Human Settlements to resolve the eviction of flood victims from the Bayside Hotel due to delayed payments.
'There has been a breakthrough. The MEC met with Minister of Human Settlements Thembi Simelane and received guidance from the Minister of Finance. We wish to indicate that we have found a solution and the necessary approvals."
Sibiya added that the department has already paid R185 million for self-catering and accommodation for 1,200 families in about five to six hotels across Durban, and now requires an additional R128 million. He detailed some of the challenges that the department has been alerted to regarding some individuals accommodated in private establishments.
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He mentioned that they had been receiving complaints from owners of these establishments that some of the people are unruly and they do not want to accommodate them anymore. He added that the department had also conducted a verification process to ensure that the people benefiting are legitimate and had found that some individuals had been abusing the system.
Furthermore, the government had built permanent houses for victims, but as soon as they moved to their new homes, others were sneaking into these rented accommodations. He said another challenge they are faced with is resistance from communities where land had been identified to build houses.
'We met with the Human Rights Commission last week and presented this matter. We could have built houses for some victims on identified state-owned land, such as in Shallcross and other areas, but communities there chased away contractors who were beginning to build. The reality is that the government cannot rebuild on unsuitable land that saw homes being washed away during floods,' Sibiya concluded.
One of the evicted individuals told a TV news channel about their trauma. 'We have not been told what is happening. We were put in here, and today we were put out, and we are sleeping on the street. All we have been told is that we will be taken to a community hall. We are not told how long we will be staying in those community halls. It's not right that we could be moved from a house to a community hall.'
The DA in eThekwini said in a statement that on Monday it will announce bold steps it is taking against the municipality following the displacement of flood victims and the overall collapse of the city. DA councillor Zamani Khuzwayo expressed deep concern about the eviction, calling it an inexcusable humanitarian failure.
The DA blamed the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the eThekwini Municipality for the crisis. In response, Themba Mvubu, the EFF chair of the Human Settlements Portfolio Committee in eThekwini, pushed back. He stated, 'These victims were booked into the hotel by the National Department of Human Settlements.'
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