Montclair residents unhappy over flood victim lodge deal
Some
residents of Montclair, south of Durban, say they should have been consulted
before the KwaZulu-Natal government bought a local establishment to accommodate
flood victims.
On Sunday, Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma announced they acquired the Montclair Lodge from Transnet in May at a cost of R33 million.
Last week, more than 100 people were evicted from a Durban hotel after the department failed to settle an outstanding bill for their accommodation.
The provincial department said the lodge, with 268 rooms, is set to house flood victims from January.
Montclair resident Terrence Clarke believes the government should focus on revamping existing derelict buildings instead of purchasing new ones.
He feels criminals could take advantage if the situation is not monitored.
READ: DA wants SAHC, PP to probe flood victims’ evictions
"When the floods did happen and there was some flood victims, which went into the Yellow Park recreational hall, it ended up with no control about who's coming into the area and who's staying, and we found out that there was a lot of people who wasn't flood victims and was not even part of the group that was sent there," said Clarke.
"So, we might see an increase in crime related stuff with people coming and using it as opportunity to hide amongst a lot of people."
Mandy Coster, who is also the chairperson of the Montwood Ratepayers Association, said they are worried about their safety.
"We've had people in there before and we've had a spike in crime in our area because what do they do to survive?
"Our community suffers with cable theft, with electricity theft, with water theft, and who is responsible for those bills for this new community that they're going put into the hospital?
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"Is it becoming our responsibility? As a community we should have the option to say yes or no," said Coster.
Heidi Geyser, chairperson of the Montclair Ratepayers Association said the infrastructure in the area cannot cope with the influx.
"Many residents have no electricity or water for four or five days before it's sorted out. We have unfixed sewage problems and water pipes burst all the time.
"This area when built was not allocated for so many people and due to it not being maintained with more people in the area it's already collapsing and now will collapse for sure."
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