Africa-Press – South-Africa. The government is hoping to put together at least R1 billion to help rebuild infrastructure for the people of KwaZulu-Natal, who watched helplessly as their homes were destroyed and severely damaged by floods this week.
The Department of Human Settlements will reprioritise some of its spending to provide relief to KZN. This will, in part, be used to rebuild damaged homes.
A staggering 13 593 households and 40 723 people were severely affected by the devastating floods that killed at least 395 people, 355 of them in the eThekwini metro.
With more rain expected overnight, residents are nervously watching to see if the weather will become as deadly again as it was on Wednesday when torrents and mudslides were so severe that 8 039 houses were partially destroyed, with at last count 3 937 wholly destroyed.
The people most severely affected lived in informal settlements, or near rivers.
Community halls were opened as temporary sleeping places, with many people left with only the clothes they wore when running away from mudslides, houses crashing down, or torrents.
A state of disaster was declared in KwaZulu-Natal to legally permit the release of money and the necessary extraordinary support needed to mitigate the immediate aftermath.
Fuel stations in Durban starting to run dry
The ombud is supposed to regulate community land schemes, complexes, townhouses and share blocks.
For the 2021/22 financial year, eThekwini has two sources of funding it can immediately tap into – R539 143 from the Urban Settlements Development Grant and R143 million recently allocated to Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant. Consultation is under way to ask that the money be reprioritised for the disaster.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure that resources we put for the disaster relief reach the intended beneficiaries and are used for the intended purpose,” said Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi.
KZN saw eight new rain records on 12 April, with Margate doubling a high set 25 years ago
“In this regard, the Auditor General’s office will work closely with us to keep a close eye on the utilisation of the resources,” she said.
The payments should be processed next week.
Insurers assessing the cost
Kubayi called on builders’ suppliers to be efficient with their deliveries, given the shortages experienced after the July 2021 riots, and to deliver good quality products.
The National Home Builders Registration Council will help conduct technical assessments to determine the extent of structural damage to homes and will reprioritise its budget for Corporate Social Investment.”
The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure also deployed a team from Infrastructure SA (in the Presidency) to work with engineers to assess the situation and repair critical infrastructure and bridges.
An alternative route was in the meantime, opened to the Durban Container Terminal and Island View to get goods moving again.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told eNCA said the recovery would be in two phases: in the first phase each ministerial portfolio assesses damage and what can be done, and in the second, the repairs begin.
The disaster management teams are still in the first phase.
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