Mxolisi Kaunda speaking with a microphone in his hand. File Picture: EThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda. Picture: Tumi Pakkies African News Agency (ANA).
Durban - The eThekwini Municipality has announced that it has recently acquired buildings to house flood victims and that plans to close all mass shelters were at an advanced stage.
The municipality said progress was being made to permanently move all displaced residents from mass care centres and provide them with decent transitional accommodation.
EThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda will unveil some of the buildings that were recently acquired by the municipality to house flood victims in oThongathi today.
“One of the buildings to be unveiled will accommodate victims from three mass care centres. Some of the families have already moved into the building.
“Mayor Kaunda will also provide a detailed update on the work being undertaken by the municipality to fast-track the repairs of sewer infrastructure,” said mayoral spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa.
The DA’s KZN spokesperson on human settlements, Marlaine Nair, said they were glad that the victims were being moved out of halls, however, they feared the families were not being moved to suitable accommodation.
“We hope that the municipality will unveil some of the buildings already owned by the city and not lease buildings from private owners.”
The KZN department of human settlements said the number of mass care centres in eThekwini had dropped from 120 to 55.
It added tat 205 families have been relocated from mass care centres since October 6.
It indicated that the Bester, Amaoti, Dassenhoek, Clermont Hall and King Cetshwayo mass care centres were closed.
According to a report by the department, 1 582 temporary residential units have been delivered and 20 buildings were being considered for the rental scheme, but they were at different levels of readiness.
The department said families in the remaining mass shelters were now all linked to land parcels that are at different stages of readiness.
“To further expedite and quicken the flood victims resettlement programme, a rental assistance scheme (RAS) has been approved as an additional solution to respond to the emergency situation of flood victims who are currently residing in shelters.”
The only other municipalities that still have mass care centres are KwaDukuza, which has eight, and Msunduzi, which has one.
“The department of human settlements has also set a target of decanting and shutting the doors of the only remaining shelter in Msunduzi before the end of November,” said the department.