The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has called upon the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Human Settlements, Sipho Nkosi, to be transparent and provide a clear timeframe on when the flood victims will be moved to permanent homes.
"We want to know when the people who are still staying in temporary shelters will be moved into their permanent homes? The MEC must provide dates. How much progress has been made on the 13 land parcels announced by the government to build houses for flood victims? We want to know: What will happen when another flood disaster strikes?" the IFP asked.
This issue was raised amid the heavy rains that the province has endured over the past few days. The IFP said this was a stark reminder that people were still staying in temporary shelters since being displaced by floods in April 2022 and in previous years.
This is despite the Department of Human Settlements’ R4.3 billion budget for the 2023/24 financial year and their promise that 13 parcels of land had been identified to build houses for flood victims.
IFP said the disaster backlogs continued to accumulate, yet during 2017–2019 and 2019–2020, the department underspent on their budget allocation by R397 million.
The party said this was an indictment of the ANC-led government, which has clearly lost the spirit of Ubuntu towards flood victims.
"The ANC-led government must hang its head in shame," it said.
According to the IFP, in June, the response from Nkosi to an IFP parliamentary question regarding the promised houses failed to provide a clear timeframe.
He instead stated that prior to construction, various detailed planning milestones are required, such as Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act approval and related environmental authorisations.
To date, IFP said the 13 land parcels are currently at the various detailed stages of the planning process, and once planning has been completed, the project will proceed to construction.
The IFP further called on the ANC to stop gambling with people’s lives, to deliver on their promises, and to fast-track the provision of homes for all flood victims.
* IOL has reached out for a comment from the Human Settlements Department. By the time of publication, no comment had been received.
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