End of Royal treatment for flood victims
FROM devastation to sheer luxury to an unidentified location: that’s the roller-coaster suffered by flood victims in Durban this week.
On Tuesday, eThekwini Municipality checked some victims into the four-star Royal Hotel in Durban’s CBD, replete with air-conditioning, high threadcount sheets and a full continental breakfast every morning.
Accommodation ranges from R1 080 per person on week nights.
But last night Mlungisi Khumalo, spokesman for the province’s Human Settlements MEC Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, said the flood victims were no longer in the Royal Hotel. He said that was a contingency measure because they couldn’t leave them on the streets. They are now staying in temporary accommodation elsewhere, which he declined to identify.
On the other side of the city, flood victims spent a long cold night huddled under blankets, lined up in the street in front of the Lamontville Police station with nowhere else to go.
Earlier this week Khumalo said the flood victims put up in the Royal Hotel were earmarked to stay in a building in Reservoir Hills.
“Accommodation was organised and the building was supposed to be leased for a period of six months. However, the owner of the property suddenly changed his mind and decided that the government should buy the building from him.”
Khumalo said while this was never part of the deal, the owner also inflated the building price to almost five times its market value.
He said, having nowhere else to go, they ended up at the Royal Hotel.
In an earlier interview yesterday, Khumalo said the Department of Human Settlements was determined to pursue the “decanting of mass centres” housing flood victims in eThekwini, KwaDukuza and Msunduzi local municipalities.
He said there were seven centres and the residents would be resettled in Transitional Emergency Accommodation (TEA) facilities. So far 1 347 Temporary Residential Units (TRUs) had been completed and most of them already occupied while the permanent housing developments were under construction.
Khumalo said so far at least R78 million had been paid to service providers and a further R1.9m was being processed for payment. “The availability of suitable land is a challenge that is impeding this work. The department remains committed to linking land to the shelters where people are currently being temporarily housed,” said Khumalo.
DA MPL Marlaine Nair said six months after the disaster all flood victims should already have been placed in temporary housing and not have to be accommodated in a hotel.
“In this particular case it was the inefficiency of the department and perhaps the hastiness of the ANC to show that they are progressing in the flood recovery process that resulted in this messy situation.”
Nair said each TRU had a lifespan of five years and cost between R68 000 to R78 000. “It would be cheaper to house them in vacant buildings and build permanent houses as soon as possible,” she said.
eThekwini municipal spokesman Msawakhe Mayisela said the displaced individuals who were dumped in Lamontville have been given an alternative place to live but has also not disclosed where.
He said in April they were housed at the Tehuis Hall, following which the decision was made to relocate them to Wema Hostel.
“However, during the move, the City was advised of potential security risks from the area.”
Mayisela said to ensure that they were safe the buses were rerouted to the Lamontville police station and the homeless flood victims remained there under guard, until they could be moved.
He said the City was investigating the cause of the initial eviction as well as the potential security threat.
The Independent on Saturday was told by an official, who asked to remain unidentified, the number of people claiming to be homeless because of the floods had been increasing because people were keen to upgrade their living conditions.
“Everyone is out on the street, everyone is now a flood victim. They think the government is the golden goose and they are all waiting for golden eggs,” the official said, adding that there was a list of legitimate flood victims and no fraudsters would be able to capitalise on the situation.
Although eThekwini Municipality has repaired damaged infrastructure and electricity and water has been restored to several areas since the floods, many communities in Durban are still without potable water.