By Celani Sikhakhane
- MEC Siboniso Duma says 186 individuals don’t qualify to live in temporary shelters, including foreign nationals and people who already have houses.
- Some flood victims were accused of causing trouble at the Bayside hotel by drinking alcohol and damaging furniture before being kicked out last week.
The victims of the deadly floods of 2022 are still living in temporary shelters, while others cannot be assisted because they are foreign nationals.
This emerged on Sunday when MEC for Transport and Human Settlement Siboniso Duma announced the purchase of the Montclair Lodge in the south of Durban at an amount of R33-million from Transnet to house flood victims.
Duma revealed that some of the victims who were chased out of the Bayside hotel last Wednesday were accused of causing trouble with bad behaviour by drinking alcohol and damaging the furniture.
He says that weeks ago, they presented a detailed report to the South African Human Rights Commission.
The report focused on the verification of individuals and families accommodated in more than six Temporary Emergency Accommodations across eThekwini since the 2022 floods.
“We uncovered that some individuals are foreign nationals, and we also uncovered that some individuals who have benefited from the government in the form of newly built houses have brought relatives to these TEAs.
“Currently, 186 individuals do not qualify to live in TEAs. Some individuals claimed not to have identification documents. When we offered to assist them to obtain IDs through the Department of Home Affairs, they refused, and others disappeared,” said Duma.
The Department has also managed to secure land from traditional leaders who donated it to the government for flood victims.
Among them is iNkosi Mqoqi Ngcobo from Inanda and iNkosi Phathisizwe Luthuli from Mgababa.
Duma revealed that through the housing project located in Illovu, they are building permanent houses for 19 families that are currently in three self-accommodation facilities. He says they are closing down these Temporary Emergency Accommodations once permanent houses have been constructed.
On Monday, the Democratic Alliance in the City of eThekwini announced that it is taking the Municipality to the Public Protector and the South African Human Rights Commission for the eviction of flood victims from the Bayside Hotel, which happened on Wednesday night.
Pictured above: KZN MEC for Transport and Human Settlement Siboniso Duma says some of the flood victims couldn’t get help because they are foreigners.
Image source: KZNEdtea
