The eThekwini municipality has called for empty hotels and hijacked buildings owned by the state to be renovated and used to accommodate those displaced by the floods.
The municipality’s human settlement & infrastructure committee has taken a stand against a plan by the KwaZulu-Natal department of human settlements to construct temporary residential units (TRUs), saying this is not a viable solution for housing.
According to the provincial department, more than R2bn will be needed to repair and construct 14,449 homes affected by the floods that swept through parts of the province last month, killing more than 400 people and displacing thousands.
Most of the homes affected — 11,492 of them — are in eThekwini.
A report released by the provincial department on Friday said R307m would be needed to construct 4,478 TRUs after the deluge.
But eThekwini said the money could better used. Deputy mayor Philani “PG” Mavundla told the Sunday Times that funds should be concentrated on renovating hotels and buildings owned by the department of public works and the municipality as a temporary solution for housing those displaced.
“The TRUs which have been used over the years, we don’t want that. We have a lot of empty hotels and buildings that belong to public works and the city that can be quickly renovated to accommodate the people; eThekwini has got anything between 50 and 180 problematic buildings that can be utilised for housing.”
Mavundla, who chairs the municipality’s human settlement & infrastructure committee, said he made the suggestion to the minister of human settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi, and of public works & infrastructure, Patricia de Lille, at a meeting on April 20.
During the meeting, which included MEC for human settlements Jomo Sibiya, Kubayi said he told the ministers that “people desperately want to be closer to economic opportunities and to live in areas where they could work and have decent schools for their children”.
• R68,659 - the cost of each TRU
• 3,000 - the number of people left homeless in eThekwini following the floods
• R2bn - the amount it will cost to repair the homes of those affected by the floods in the province
— IN NUMBERS:
“If we don’t look after those buildings, in five-10 years' time this can be a ghost town and no tourist will come to a ghost town.
"Look at what has happened to Johannesburg. Johannesburg CBD used to be an attraction in terms of tourism and cultural activities — [now] no-one wants to go to the city centre. Revitalisation of Johannesburg is taking longer because it was allowed to deteriorate over time.”
Mavundla said he was aware of several hotels in the city owned by public works that could be used for temporary shelter, with three near Point Road.
He said the municipality and public works also owned between 50 and 180 hijacked/empty buildings in the CBD which could be renovated.
NDPW spokesperson Bukiwe Cimela said they did not have any records of owning hotels in Durban. "It is possible that the public works referred to by the deputy mayor is the provincial."
She referred the Sunday Times to the provincial department which did not respond.
Three weeks after the floods, only a handful of TRUs have been constructed as the provincial department of human settlements scrambles to get budgets approved so construction can be stepped up.
Sibiya confirmed 15 TRU's were constructed in Ndwendwe following inclement weather which destroyed homes in the area in December.
He said 12 of the temporary shelters had been successfully handed over to the residents affected in the area and the reminder "were occupied by beneficiaries prematurely as inspection was still pending".
“We have projected to have these completed at the end of May, middle June in a worst-case scenario. The contractors on our database who are executing the work can do two-three TRUs per day.”
In Ndwedwe, north of Durban, 62-year-old Jabu Mabasa was one of two people who received TRUs in the area this week. Hers was constructed on the site where her house had collapsed once before.
Mabasa recalled the night her home collapsed: “Fortunately, we were sleeping on the other side so the wall didn't fall on top of anyone. I went to the ward committee to tell them that my house had collapsed again because this is the second time. I was also a victim in December, my house collapsed completely. In fact, that house was on this site that they built this temporary shelter on.”
Grandmother Nomthandazo Luthuli, 66, also received a home but said housing people in buildings in the city was a better option, especially for those who want work.
“I'm very relieved that I have a proper house, but now no-one is employed at home. My daughter does odd jobs here and there but nothing stable or permanent, so if we were housed in town it would be much better.”
Several residents affected by a cyclone in December said they had to break into TRUs that the government completed in February but did not hand over to them.
Vusi Luthuli, 44, said after the recent floods her family was left destitute and took matters into their own hands.
“We didn't have the keys to it but we couldn't lose all our belongings and sit in the rain while there is a house in my yard that was built for us — so we opened it and moved in. I still had to construct a drainage ditch around it that night because water was forcing its way in, but we eventually sorted it out.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.