THE construction of the Sakhithemba Homeless Shelter in Lower Illovo is ramping up and likewise are the community’s concerns, which has prompted resident and environmental science consultant, Laura Taylor, to compile a report on the most significant potential environmental impacts that may result if the shelter is built and operates as intended.

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In a recent community engagement with the deputy mayor and other officials from eThekwini Municipality, Taylor submitted her 23-page report. Additionally, it was included in an official memorandum to the mayor, councillor Cyril Xaba.

Informing her report are several studies and impact assessments. Taylor explains that the Lower Illovo community is home to the ILovu river estuary, which is classified as a temporarily open estuary. Estuaries are transitional zones between the land and the sea, and feature distinct physical and chemical processes that differ greatly from the freshwater river habitats that feed them.

Taylor refers to “one in 100 years floods” in her report, a flood event that has a 1% chance of occurring at any time during a year, irrespective of whether flooding has already occurred. The April 2022 floods, which ravaged Durban, are considered a one in 100 years flood.

She included an illustration of the original estuarine flood plain, which depicts parts of Illovo village and Illovo business park potentially being affected, as well as the entire area containing the Sakhithemba Homeless Shelter.

“While the village has been on its current site for over a century and cannot easily be moved, future projects should not under any circumstances be built on a one in 100 year flood plain. It is indeed a stark irony that the municipality is allegedly going to move some people who were dislocated from their previous homes by floods into a situation where they could again be flooded,” said Taylor.

She demonstrated the risks the shelter poses, especially to the some 400 homeless individuals it will house, using historical disasters that have affected the area. In 1959, a road bridge and a railway bridge embankment were washed away. The road bridge collapsed in 1976 and again in 1987. Most recently, one span of the railway bridge crossing the Illovo river mouth washed away following the April 2022 floods, and during the floods, Illovo business park, situated opposite the shelter site, was also severely impacted.

“What is abundantly evident is that the eThekwini Municipality falls short in maintaining existing infrastructure, and the community has suffered a great deal as a result. The Sakhithemba Homeless Shelter will only exacerbate the problems the community face,” said Taylor.

With no joy after several attempts at halting the project, the community now awaits further engagement with municipal officials.

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