“It’s been three years now -living this inhumane life,” Khumuzile Sithole lashes out when reflecting on her family’s circumstances since they were displaced by floods in 2022.
Sithole is among scores of people who still endure deplorable living conditions after their homes in the eThekwini Metro were destroyed in the floods that left more than 400 people dead.
This week as torrential rains struck Durban and surrounds, questions surfaced about the R1,2-billion that was set aside to assist the 2022 flood victims such as Sithole.
“We were put together in a two-bedroom flat with several other families. We stay together, my husband and two children who are now teenagers. You can imagine what happens when males and females share one space.”
Khumbuzile Sithole, from a different family at Impala, another block of flats in the CBD, said: “The conditions are unbearable. It’s been three years now living this inhumane life.”
As the government battled to find land or proper accommodation, it resorted to signing leases with private property owners mainly in the Durban CBD, paying a monthly rent for the displaced flood victims.
“My husband had to go out and find an alternative accommodation with relatives while I stayed behind with my children. Anything can happen because we share with people who we do not know, Sithole said.
“The safety of our children is at high risk. We also fear that we might be evicted because sometimes the landlord tells us that the government hasn’t paid.”
In December last year, landlords in the Durban central area threatened the tenants with evictions, saying they were owed money in excess of R6-million.
The more than R1-billion promised to KwaZulu-Natal by the National Treasury as immediate relief for the April 2022 floods appears to have been a public relations exercise.
This week Sunday World sought answers from the KZN treasury about whether the funds were ever disbursed to the provincial coffers.
“The province (provincial sphere of government) has not received any funding from the National Treasury or the National Disaster Management Centre. This means that no funds were paid into the Provincial Revenue Fund.
“Provincial departments are continuously reprioritising funds within their baselines to respond to the natural disasters,” Nkosikhona Duma, KZN provincial treasury said.
In the aftermath of the 2022 floods, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the national government had set aside R1-billion to assist survivors.
This was meant to rebuild the people’s homes and repair the ruined infrastructure. The money was supposed to have been taken from the contingency reserves.
“Relief funds of R1-billion were available as emergency relief, with two phases in the disaster. The first is the emergency relief and the second phase is the recovery and repair stage. These disaster relief funds are available from four Schedule 7 grants in the Division of Revenue Act, 2022, allocated just over R1-billion in 2022/23,” the national treasury said in its report.
While the floods swept through the entire province, Durban and surrounding townships such as Inanda, KwaMashu, Ntuzuma, Mayville and Umlazi were severely hit. About 40 000 people were displaced and placed temporarily where they live in squalor.
The provincial government itself has no clue as to where the flood money is sitting.
“As far as we’re concerned as the province, there was no R1-billion allocated to KZN for flood relief,” said KZN cabinet spokesperson Bongani Gina.
Since April 22, KZN has been hit by three consecutive floods, the last occurring this week.
The Department of Human Settlements has since committed R100-million, which, according to minister Thembi Simelane, will be availed to the province for the construction of houses for victims of the latest floods in which 13 people died.
But Abahlali baseMjondolo, a socialist dwellers movement advocating for land and housing for the marginalised, pointed out that it’s not surprising that the R1-billion is not yet accounted for.
“Flood victims remain cramped in different temporary accommodation.
“They have no dignity with several families sharing single spaces. The people who were swept by water in the recent floods had survived previously. They pleaded to be relocated elsewhere but the government ignored their cries.
“All we hear is promises after promises,” charged Mqapheli Bonono, the organisation’s deputy president.
