Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has made a bold undertaking to close all mass care centres within seven days and relocate all flood victims to new accommodation before Christmas.
She said this while addressing the media in the Durban CBD yesterday where she welcomed 531 flood victims to their new accommodation on Russell Street.
They KZN Department of Human Settlements and Public Works said yesterday that it planned to provide permanent housing for all displaced flood victims, but said this process would take time and the department was working as fast as possible.
Dube-Ncube said the 1 046 families who were in mass care centres were being placed in accommodation.
Yesterday, 531 of them were placed at the Astra building in the CBD.
She added that the government had been hard at work to assist communities to recover from the tragic events of the April and May 2022 floods.
“We announce today that one of the sad chapters to all those who lost their homes is being closed.
“In the next seven days there will be no flood victim living in a mass care centre in KwaZulu-Natal. As the government we have mobilised all available resources and are undertaking every effort to ensure that as we rebuild and rehouse flood victims no one is left behind,” she continued.
The three buildings being made available to accommodate families are Astra Building in Russel Street, O’Flaherty Building in Sydenham and Pinetown Student Village under the Transitional Emergency Accommodation (TEA) programme.
The mass care centres that will be shut down as a result were the Gospel Church, Chesterville, Mountview Hall, uMlazi K, Emaus, Tshelimnyama and Nazareth.
Dube-Ncube said more relocations of flood victims were planned for the week.
“We plan to move flood victims from Mpola Hall (195 people); Rurafo Hall (158 people); Isithundu Hill (199 people); Mariannridge (120 people); and Truro Hall in Pietermaritzburg (23 families). This is in addition to 191 people who are already at the O’Flaherty Road TEA. In KwaDukuza Municipality last week, we closed five mass care centres and we are down to only four. All four will also be closed by Monday next week as people are moving to temporary residential units. We are finalising the connection of services,” said the premier.
Dube-Ncube added that the only remaining mass care centre in Msunduzi Municipality would be closed this weekend.
Nomathemba Mkhize, 49, from Verulam said her house was flooded in April and she had been living with her family at Mountview Hall since.
KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements and Public Works spokesperson Mlungisi Khumalo said the government will be building permanent housing for all displaced flood victims from the April floods.