By Celani Sikhakhane
- KZN Premier Thami Ntuli says 113 houses for flood victims will be ready by December with President Ramaphosa invited for handover.
- The Cornubia housing project will eventually have over 1,000 units for victims of 2022 April floods and February 2025 floods.
The victims of the 2022 April deadly floods in KwaZulu-Natal will finally have a place they call home together with those who were affected by the February 2025 floods.
This comes after the KZN Premier Thami Ntuli together with KZN MEC for Transport and Human Settlement visited the construction site of over 1,000 housing units in Cornubia, North of Durban on Thursday that is underway.
Ntuli and Duma announced that about 113 housing units will be fully completed before the end of this year and in December this year they are planning to invite President Cyril Ramaphosa to hand over those houses to the victims as part of the first phase.
“113 sites are ready and construction of houses has started. Four contractors are already on site and building. 113 houses will be ready to be handed over by December 2025 to the victims of floods. We will be back here with the Premier to hand over the houses to the families.
“We are planning to invite President Cyril Ramaphosa to be part of the handover. Importantly, a decision has been made to build 100 double storey Temporary Residential Units in Cornubia Phase 1A, to house 200 families,” said Duma.
Their visits come after rumours that there are senior regional officials from the Department of Transport and Human Settlement in eThekwini who are fighting for the project among themselves.
Sources revealed that the biggest fight is for the project to appoint service providers who will build access roads.
But MEC Duma’s spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya rubbished the rumours and described them as nonsense.
“You are a fool, even yourself. How do you think those people are involved? They gave you a story because you are a fool and I’m telling you this is nonsense,” he told the journalist.
Premier Ntuli said that this help forms part of the province’s speeded up disaster recovery plan, aimed at ensuring that by 2027, every flood victim in KwaZulu-Natal will be housed in a permanent, fully serviced structure.
He further said that the houses will be built to high-quality, disaster-resistant standards and will include special changes for people with disabilities, ensuring inclusivity, accessibility, and long-term comfort.
Pictured above: The construction of the first phase of the flood victims houses in Cornubia, North of Durban is underway and about 113 families will be given their fully completed housing units in December 2025.
Image source: KZN Office of the Premier
