Time to speed up housing delivery
Shack dwellers’ lives at risk from fires and floods
OPPOSITION parties are calling on the city to prioritise housing projects for the fire victims of Kennedy Road informal settlement.
Many shack dwellers, especially during winter, are forced to restart their lives, when their homes are destroyed by fires.
On Sunday, it was no different when more of the makeshift homes burnt down.
The city’s disaster management and emergency control unit had to swiftly offer temporary shelter and relief to 173 residents who were left homeless. Some 115 homes were destroyed.
The city partnered with the Shoprite Soup Kitchen and the Al Imdaad Foundation to secure food and blankets for the homeless who are being housed at a local community hall.
For Nhlanhla Makhubu, 37, it was the second time he and his family survived a fire. He had to rebuild his shack in 2014 after it was destroyed by fire and start his life from scratch.
“I have lost everything. It is very hard for us. We try to be safe during this time, but it’s a collective responsibility because our shacks are too close to each other. It would be nice to have a proper house, but we understand it’s not something that can happen overnight,” he said.
The opposition parties said it was time to prioritise the housing project rather than always offering relief.
Martin Meyer, DA whip for human settlements, said the province and the city needed to speed up delivery and catch up with the massive backlog in the delivery of houses.
“I believe it is time that we accurately identify the causes of these fires and then find a workable plan to deal with the causes. We cannot ignore the fact that the city only spent half of the budget on the upgrading of informal settlement in the previous budget year.
“One of the goals of these upgrades is to make informal settlements safer to live in. Legal electrification, safer methods of cooking and lightning and better roads for access by emergency services is vital. The city must act on these now,” said Meyer.
IFP Executive Committee member Mdu Nkosi said the housing projects should take priority because people were living in squalor and in constant fear as their homes were unsafe and many had lost all their belongings.
“We call on ethekwini Municipality to speed up the building of much-needed houses. During this cold season we also urge shack dwellers not to be negligent if they use open fires in their homes because this will put their lives and possessions more at risk,” said Nkosi.