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Daily Maverick
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
DA calls for rights commission, Public Protector to probe ‘neglect' of evicted KZN flood victims
The party also says it will table a motion of no confidence against the eThekwini city manager, the mayor and two council members after the flood victims were evicted from their Durban accommodation. The move by the party comes after the Department of Human Settlements announced it had bought a Durban building to ensure flood victims are never evicted due to nonpayment again. On 9 July 2025, more than 150 of the victims were evicted from the state-provided temporary accommodation, the Bayside Hotel in central Durban. They were told this was because of nonpayment of rent. They spent hours on the street outside the building with their belongings, and slept there, before being moved to accommodation in Umbilo, Durban, the next day (10 July). 'What hurts us the most is we were told they didn't pay, we were standing outside for hours (calling for help) and no one was picking up calls, we had children there, nobody gave us any attention,' one of the victims said in a voice note sent to Daily Maverick. In a statement on 14 July 2025, councillor Thabani Mthethwa, the DA's eThekwini caucus leader, said: 'The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has written to the South African Human Rights Commission and the Public Protector to request an urgent investigation into the recent neglect of eThekwini flood victims. Vulnerable residents, many of them women and children, were evicted from shelters and forced to sleep on the streets. This is a human rights violation, and it cannot go unanswered.' The KZN flood victims' spokesperson, Sibongile Mkhize, told Daily Maverick she is grateful to the councillors, including Sbu Lushaba, who stayed with the victims all night while making calls, along with civil society organisations which also helped. Mkhize said that instead of the situation getting better for flood victims, it seems to be getting worse. Mthethwa said this incident and previous challenges faced by flood victims as far back as 2022 are examples of a greater collapse of the city's leadership. As a result, the DA would table a motion of no confidence against the city manager, the mayor and two council members. MEC for transport and human settlements Siboniso Duma said during a media briefing on 13 July that the affected flood victims were now 'living comfortably and warmly in a safe place in Umbilo'. Duma also thanked the councillors and civil society organisations who provided food to the victims. New building Duma announced the acquisition of the Montclair Lodge by the Department of Human Settlements in KwaZulu-Natal. It was bought from Transnet for R33-million and would be repurposed to accommodate flood victims. 'In other words, we will no longer use private facilities as part of the temporary emergency accommodation. The lodge boasts a total of 268 rooms with a bed capacity of 600. The building is managed by the Housing Development Agency on behalf of the KZN Department of Human Settlements. A professional engineer will be appointed before the end of July 2025 to do a basic assessment, which will determine the scope of work for the refurbishment,' Duma said. A contractor would be appointed immediately following basic assessments. 'A minimum of R35-million will be set aside for the refurbishment, while R4.2-million has been made available for the basic assessment. It is anticipated that some flood victims will take up residence in the lodge during the month of December 2025 or January 2026. Our plan is to ensure that we are ready for heavy rainfall and flooding associated with the summer season. This milestone of a government-owned transitional emergency accommodation will drastically reduce the rent paid to privately owned transitional accommodations,' Duma added. To avoid flood victims facing eviction and other challenges in rented properties all stakeholders had decided to streamline some of the responsibilities. 'In our meeting with the minister of human settlements, Thembi Simelane, and the mayor of eThekwini, Cyril Xaba, we have agreed to review the Temporary Emergency Accommodation Policy. This will help us avoid the repetition of a similar situation faced by the flood victims at Bayside Hotel… Following our engagement with Minister Thembi Simelane, we wish to announce that the KZN Department of Human Settlements has been given the mandate to take over the administrative coordination and responsibility of temporary emergency accommodation,' Duma said. DM
Eyewitness News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
eThekwini responds to DA's claim about flood victims as 'political grandstanding'
DURBAN - The eThekwini Metro Municipality has responded to claims by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that it failed to take responsibility when flood victims were evicted from their temporary residence. 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.'
IOL News
09-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
eThekwini Municipality faces backlash over R1 billion in unspent grants
The Durban City Hall, the seat of the eThekwini Municipality. Ratepayers and opposition parties in eThekwini are alarmed over the failure to spend R1 billion in allocated grants. Image: Independent Newspapers Archives Ratepayers and opposition parties in the eThekwini Municipality are outraged over the revelation that the municipality has failed to spend R1 billion in allocated grants. This was disclosed in a recent meeting by the City's finance committee. Opposition parties stated that these funds were specifically allocated to address the City's urgent infrastructure and service delivery needs. One described the failure as an indication of a 'don't care attitude' by staff, while ratepayers expressed concerns about the competence of senior managers in the municipality. The Mercury has seen a portion of the report detailing the City's investments and other financial matters regarding the issue of grants. It stated that as of 31 May 2025, unutilised capital and operational grants stood at R1.032 billion. DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa described the revelations as alarming. 'The DA is calling for the dismissal of City Manager Musa Mbhele following the latest revelation that the municipality has failed to spend over R1 billion in conditional grant funding. These funds were allocated specifically to address the City's urgent infrastructure and service delivery needs,' he stated. The information emerged during a Finance Committee meeting held recently, where the DA highlighted significant underspending on key grants. Grants such as the Urban Settlements Development Grant and the Informal Settlements Upgrading Grant remain severely underutilised, despite continuous pleas from communities for better housing, functional roads, and access to basic services. 'This ongoing failure to spend allocated funding raises the serious risk that the municipality will be forced to return the money to the National Treasury. Such a scenario would only deepen the suffering of communities already affected by poor service delivery. The lack of progress is not due to a shortage of funds but a failure of leadership and implementation,' Mthethwa concluded. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ IFP councillor Jonathan Annipen echoed similar sentiments, stating that the failure to spend grants indicates a 'don't care attitude' by officials. 'The eThekwini Municipality relies on grants to carry out essential functions. The failure to spend these grants is an indication of poor planning by city officials. Remember that the grants are allocated for specific functions, and we know that as of May, more than a billion rand of these grants had not been spent,' he said. He further explained that the failure to spend the grants is compounded by other problems, including poor contract management, where projects undertaken are not completed on time, and slow supply chain processes. 'The municipality would have to apply for a rollover of these grants; however, if they do, the grants are brought back as a loan, meaning that these must be paid back. And who is going to pay those back? It is the same ratepayers, the same ratepayers who are paying the officials to manage the municipality, the officials that are failing to plan properly,' he added. The eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA) leader Ish Prahladh stated that the biggest issue is incompetent heads and staff. 'They have no forward planning, and just getting paid to sit in their offices is not going to improve service delivery. Most importantly, the workforce on the ground should be competent and forward service delivery issues to their respective offices and the respective heads.' The office of the mayor said they aimed to spend 95% of the grants.
IOL News
07-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
eThekwini's R5,9 million Grant-in-Aid funding for community development under scrutiny
The eThekwini Municipality Grant-in-Aid (GIA) programme is expected to cost an estimated R5,9 million. Image: Independent Newspapers Archives The Grant-in-Aid (GIA) programme is expected to cost the eThekwini Municipality an estimated R5,9 million through workshops and a disbursement event. The GIA programme is divided into two categories, a capacity building workshop and the handover of the grants to the applicants. The matter was brought to the eThekwini Executive Committee on Tuesday for discussion. In the report tabled by the Governance and Human Resources Committee, the GIA capacity building workshops for six regions in eThekwini will cost R230,000 of which R140,000 is allocated for catering and R72,000 for sound hire. The committee stated that the purpose of the workshops is to impart knowledge and skills to organisations so that they can be able to access GIA and other sources of funding. The committee stated that the workshops will enhance the Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and Non-Profit Companies (NPC) financial and narrative reporting skills for them to meet the policy requirements. The workshops target new organisations, beneficiary organisations and councillors and traditional leaders. The municipality will disburse R5,5 million to 111 GIA applicants. In total, 508 applications were received. The municipality is expected to spend a further R208,000 to cover the logistical arrangements pertaining to the event. A breakdown of the additional amount includes R80,000 for catering, R43,000 on marquee hire, decor R15,000 and entertainment R20,000. According to the committee the beneficiaries include; Early Childhood Development; Social Welfare; Sports Arts and Culture; Economic Development; Skills Development; and Faith-Based Organisations involved in community development work The committee stated that the panel followed the principle that all applications must be considered equally but placed special emphasis on rural and mostneedy communities. In this programme, the importance of reporting on how the organisation has utilised municipal funds will be emphasised and reiterated. Thabani Mthethwa, the DA's eThekwini Caucus Leader, said although the grant in aid was a good deed, the spending on hiring tents raised questions, adding that he had previously raised the issue in 2024. Mthethwa urged the city to use community halls and questioned the need to procure décor for the venues. Ethekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba said, 'I thought the principle is that we should try to use our own facilities as far as possible. Only when those facilities are not adequate we must use alternative measures," Xaba said. Nkosenhle Madlala, ANC councillor and chairperson of the governance committee, said they have cut costs where they could. He said halls were subject to availability and this required the hire of marquees when they were not available. 'It does not necessarily mean what is approved here is spent. It is an anticipatory budget and there could be savings in certain areas. Every effort was made to spare the city resources and the overall costs are within limits. We host this event because of transparency,' Madlala said. Madlala stated that this will also be a platform where different organisations can network, share ideas and collaborate among themselves. The eThekwini municipality Audit Risk Committee (ARC) report for the second quarter ended 30 December 2024 presented to Exco, on Tuesday, also expressed concerns about the grant-in-aid. Siboniso Shabalala, Chairperson of the ARC stated that the Committee recommends the resolution of the non-compliance with the Grants in Aid policy requirements which were identified, as it suggests a lack of enforcement and adherence to the requirements set forth in the policy. Furthermore, poor monitoring of beneficiaries was noted, which hinders the ability to assess the effectiveness of the grant and ensure that resources are being utilised appropriately. City Manager Musa Mbhele said the policy has been circulated to internal and external stakeholders for comments. The comments will be reviewed by June 2025 and accordingly included in the draft policy during the finalisation stage of the policy where appropriate. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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