FOUR years after the 2022 floods more than 100 families remain in temporary accommodation in various areas in Durban, including Clairwood.

DA provincial leader Sthembiso Ngema said the party is taking the matter to the SA Human Rights Commission.

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He said the team will also visit a site on Dayal Road, Clairwood, where more than 10 families have been living in corrugated iron-sheet houses since 2021.

“Four years after the devastating 2022 floods, 143 families, approximately 400 people, remain in accommodation that was supposed to be temporary. Residents said they were initially told they would stay there for 12 months. Four years later, they are still waiting for permanent homes,” said Ngema.

He said the situation is dire as children have been born while their families have been displaced.

“Children are growing up there. Residents told us that approximately six people have died during this period. Temporary accommodation cannot become a childhood. Inside the facility, unrelated families share rooms. Mothers and children sleep together while fathers are accommodated separately. Privacy and ordinary family life have become luxuries,” said Ngema.

He said the party’s leadership has requested an urgent intervention.

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Ngema said they need the commission to conduct an on-site assessment to determine whether these conditions remain suitable, and whether the rights and dignity of these families are being adequately protected.

“I will not make empty promises to these residents. We will use every available oversight and constitutional mechanism to demand answers and action. The government could not control the floods that devastated KwaZulu-Natal in 2022, but the KZN Department of Human Settlements led by MEC Siboniso Duma-MPL is responsible for what happens to KZN people four years after the water has gone,” Ngema added.

Early last month, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Mandla Nsele said the municipality, together with the KZN Department of Human Settlements and Housing Development Agency, procured transitional emergency accommodation (TEA) units in December 2022 to provide immediate relief to families affected by the floods.

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“A total of 1 151 families were accommodated in various TEAs managed by the Municipality, the Housing Development Agency and KZN Department of Human Settlements. Since then, the City has continued to implement a range of interventions aimed at assisting flood-affected families to transition into permanent housing,” said Nsele.

The municipality said these interventions include acquiring land for:

• Housing developments.
• Identifying existing housing opportunities for qualifying beneficiaries.
• Acquiring and refurbishing buildings for residential use.
• Constructing Temporary Residential Units (TRUs).
• Providing building materials where appropriate.

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