The DA in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has requested an urgent engagement with South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) senior officials in the province following the events of the past week, which saw KZN’s flood victims moved from pillar to post due to shocking planning by government.
The move also comes after a disappointing response from the SAHRC to our earlier correspondence relating to flood victims.
The DA first wrote to the SAHRC on 27 July (view here) calling for swift intervention on their behalf. This after visiting eThekwini community halls where we found inhumane conditions which included as many as 400 men, women and children all crammed together in the same hall and little or no ablution or washing facilities.
We received an acknowledgement of our formal complaint from the SAHRC, with an undertaking to report back on its findings.
After not receiving any further correspondence for two months, we again wrote to request an update. The SAHRC responded on 29 September with a request for further information on the location of the halls. (view here)
The DA regards the Commission’s response as lacking in urgency. It also shows a distinct lack of empathy for the plight of KZN’s flood victims.
Six months after the floods, more than 3 000 people are still homeless and being housed in sub-standard community halls in eThekwini. A recent report by the Auditor-General (AG) on disaster funding also revealed that while KZN’s Human Settlements Department had reprioritized more than half a billion Rand for housing, it had only spent R33million by July.
Recently, KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube announced that 37 families would be relocated to temporary facilities. While the DA welcomes this, the question remains – what about the other 3 000 people still living in halls?
Then there is KZN’s Department of Human Settlements, which clearly has no plan. Earlier this week, the DA exposed that this Department was accommodating a group of flood victims at a four-star Durban hotel. This is a bizarre attempt by the ANC to show that it cares.
In a separate incident, stranded flood victims who were removed from Tehuis hostel in uMlazi on Wednesday, had to sleep in the rain and the cold outside Lamontville SAPS after they were denied access to other accommodation.
KZN’s flood victims have clearly been abandoned by this ANC-run government. There is a dire need for the SAHRC to step up and ensure that they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.