Durban — The eThekwini Municipality recently issued eviction notices to families displaced by the April 2022 floods, and the Department of Human Settlements has shed light on the government’s plans to help the families.
This emerged after a recent parliamentary written question by the late Princess Sibuyiselwe Angela Buthelezi.
Last month, the Daily News reported that flood victims who were given eviction notices to move out of their Temporary Emergency Accommodation (TEA) by the eThekwini Municipality after the City found that they own RDP houses say they have nowhere to go.
The City said it gave marching orders to at least 26 flood victims after a verification process revealed that they have RDP houses registered in their names. The municipality said the letters were issued to individuals who did not qualify after the verification process as these individuals were attempting to defraud the state. They took advantage of the situation by leaving their homes unaffected by the storm.
Princess Buthelezi asked Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi that since the eThekwini Municipality recently issued eviction notices to victims of the April 2022 floods in Durban, does her department have plans in place to help families who had been allocated and/or living in RDP houses but now live in emergency accommodation.
In her response, Kubayi explained that before April 1, 2023, the National Department of Human Settlements had been disbursing emergency housing grants (on application) to provinces and municipalities affected by disasters:
- As a result, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements applied for emergency housing funding to assist 3 089 displaced families and was allocated an amount of R342 133 000 during the 2022/23 financial year.
- In October 2022, the provincial Department of Human Settlements appointed the Housing Development Agency (HDA) and Ithala Bank as programme managers for leasing various identified TEAs that will accommodate 1 200 families for a period not exceeding 2-years and acquire a Transnet-owned building called Montclair Lodge.
- The balance of the allocated grant was utilised to construct 1 074 Temporary Residential Units (TRUs) and ablution facilities thereof, whilst 815 opted to stay with their relatives and some restored their homes.
- After the provision of temporary relief, the KZN-DHS and eThekwini acquired land parcels that will be utilised to construct permanent houses for the 1 200 families that are still in TEAs.
- The latter process was delayed by the prolonged turnaround time of obtaining environmental authorisations and objections from communities that reside near the identified land parcels.
“In the current 2024/25 financial year the National Department of Human Settlements requested concurrence from the National Treasury, to utilise the Emergency Housing Fund to extend the lease agreements that are expiring (at the) end of October 2024, but this request was rejected on the basis that the Unforeseen and Unavoidable Expenditure process is only applicable to disaster backlogs that occurred within the 2024/25 financial year,” Kubayi explained.
“Therefore, the KZN-DHS and eThekwini have been advised to reprioritise their current budget allocations to fund the lease agreements, whilst the process for permanent housing is being finalised.”
Kubayi further explained that it is estimated that construction of the permanent houses will commence during the 2025/26 financial year, subject to additional funding being approved by the National Treasury, considering that the grant dedicated to permanent housing namely the Human Settlements Development Grant has been reduced significantly in most provinces for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework budget period.
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