Displaced flood victims living in two temporary accommodation sites in Durban say that although they are grateful for shelter, living with ‘strangers’ is not ideal.

Families living at two different O’Flaherty Road flats in Reservoir Hills, KZN, have complained about overcrowding and inadequate amenities in their temporary shelters.

They have requested that the newly-appointed MEC for Human Settlements, Sipho Nkosi, speed up projects to build them permanent homes.

Displaced flood victims

Nelly Mseleku (28) lives in a four-bedroom unit with her grandmother and two children; they share the unit, which has a kitchen and bathroom, with three other families.

“We lived in a shack on Palmiet Road for many years before it was destroyed by the floods. As much as we are happy here and this is better than the community halls, we do wish we had our own private home.”

Nkosi, during his visit on Friday, told the families that 13 land parcels have been procured in eThekwini to accommodate all flood victims, and phases of profiling families are being finalised.

Nkosi says the environmental assessment on the proposed land has been completed, adding that the building will be done quickly after the bulk services, like sewerage systems and electricity, have been addressed.

He says he will do everything in his power during his term as MEC to ensure the homes are built, promising that by May next year, a huge improvement will have been made.

Nkosi told the O’Flaherty Road temporary residents that the profiling processes will include determining whether any of the flood victims already had homes in the form of RDPs, because if they did, the government will not be able to build them another.

“It is government policy that doesn’t allow for one person or family to receive a government housing subsidy twice. We will only deal with those cases after the profiling is complete.”

Addressing the issue of overcrowding, the department said the main issue is that people who were placed in temporary housing were bringing in other family members to live with them.

Nkosi pleads with the people of eThekwini not to build in areas that are not suitable for housing to avoid being displaced in times of disaster.