‘Tired’ Durban flood victims homeless again
Flood victims in Durban, evicted from a local hotel on Wednesday, say they are tired of being moved around.
Young children and the elderly were among the more than 100 people who had to sleep on the pavement after the establishment said there had been a delay in payments from the KZN Department of Human Settlements.
One of the victims, Phumaua Mlonzi, said they were moved around a few times before they were brought to the Bayside Hotel in March.
She's explained why many women are reluctant to return to community halls.
" We want houses, we were promised. We get abused at community halls. We, as women, get sexually harassed. The reason why we agreed to stay in community halls before was because of our kids. However, we have been kicked out again, and we are sitting outside. They kept saying they were paying for this hotel. How were they paying for the hotel if we are outside?"
Ndabe Sibiya, from Human Settlements, said the department has already spent R185 million on expenses but needs an additional R128 million to settle the bill.
He says securing land to build houses for the flood victims has been a problem.
" We are dealing with the not-in-my-backyard syndrome, where you have communities that are refusing to allow us to build permanent houses for these affected communities. You know, we had state-owned land in Shallcross where we were starting to build houses in 2024 November/December.
"The contractor there was chased away, as well as in other areas, where when we start building houses, we are told that communities must not set foot in the area, they will cause depreciation of their houses."
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