At least R5 million in emergency housing projects in Cape Town is being set aside, as the metro continues to recover from flood-related disasters that struck over the past year.
Providing an update yesterday on the flood disaster relief and recovery interventions for 2022/23, the ad hoc committee for Human Settlements said the Western Cape recorded 12 disasters affecting 1 417 households.
The briefing was on the back of the National Disaster Management Centre earlier this week, declaring the September floods as a national disaster for the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces.
Five of the 12 disasters were in Cape Town, while Mossel Bay experienced two, and the Hessequa, Prince Albert, Oudtshoorn, Theewaterskloof and Knysna each experienced one.
The committee highlighted several challenges to addressing the impacts of flood disasters.
“People residing in flood-prone areas are refusing to be relocated.
“Previous years' disasters have not been responded to, also making it difficult to deal with recent disasters,” the committee said.
The City had said that some of the worst impacted areas were in Klipheuwel, Philippi, Sir Lowry's Pass Village, and Khayelitsha.
“The unprecedented large-scale unlawful occupations during Covid19
and the national lockdown, created 186 new informal settlements. Importantly, more than 60% of these new settlements are considered high risk – situated under power lines, in wetlands, retention ponds and biodiversity-protected areas.
“We'd need about 500 hectares of land for these new occupants, identified to be at risk due to their physical location,” the City said.
Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell, meanwhile, welcomed the national disaster declaration for the Western Cape.
“We are pleased with this declaration, as it now enables all three spheres of government to work together to fund and repair the damage left in the wake of the unprecedented rains experienced over the Heritage Day long weekend in September.
“We will now request the National Disaster Management Centre to approach National Treasury with these numbers … ,” Bredell said.
So far, the province has received 238 applications to do emergency repairs in rivers and streams. It finalised 196 of these.
According to the latest figures from the provincial Department of Infrastructure, by Wednesday, 22 roads remained closed as repairs were prioritised for roads that connected communities and roads that were vital for economic activity.
In the aftermath of the floods, the N1 and N2 were closed, with more than 150 other roads.