The recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal have had a severe impact on economic activity in the province, as they brought business operations to a halt in several industries, chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Amos Masondo said.
Masondo, the former mayor of Johannesburg, noted that the floods came at a time when KwaZulu-Natal was recovering from the effects of the 2021 July riots, which cost the province over R20-billion and put over 150 000 jobs at risk.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of taking parliament to the people programme at Ugu district in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday.
In the Ugu district, which has large tracts of fertile land for agriculture, more than 500 000 tons of sugarcane worth millions of rands in potential were destroyed along with the Ugu Fresh Produce Market, directly impacting tens of thousands of jobs and many more indirectly.
“We will be failing in our duty if we do not reiterate the point made by the leaders in the province and nationally, during the time of the unrest and afterwards, that we must guard against destroying the very resources and the means we need for our own livelihoods and development,” said Masondo.
“We do understand that parliament must oversee the work being done to rebuild and ensure that there is accountability by those charged with the provision of public services and goods, however, to succeed, we must all work together.”
Masondo further said in respect of housing, various studies conducted indicate that KwaZulu-Natal is the second-highest province in the country when considering housing backlogs.
The province also has a high number of informal settlements surrounding primary economic hubs and secondary cities including eThekwini metro, Ray Nkonyeni, Newcastle, Alfred Duma, KwaDukuza, uMhlathuze and uMsunduzi municipalities.
According to the 2016 community survey, KwaZulu-Natal has a combination of rural and urban settlements, with a housing backlog estimated at over 700 000. In eThekwini municipality alone, there was a backlog of more than 440 000 houses.
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