Five months after the deadly floods in KwaZulu-Natal, at least 27 victims remain unidentified and some families are still living in community care centres.
KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube revealed this during a comprehensive update on Sunday.
“With regard to unidentified bodies and the use of DNA to establish the identity and to find the families to effect closure, to date at least 27 cases are still unknown. Of these, 12 profiles were generated but not identified. So far, five cases have been positively linked with families, while two cases have returned a negative result and will have to be reconducted.
“We understand the frustration of the families about the pace on the DNA service. We are doing our best to get the DNA services completed timeously to enable families to find closure.” she said.
Dube-Ncube said the government had put in place “a practical plan” to move people out of community care centres by the end of November.
“The plan to get people out of community care centres will entail eight land parcels, including Cottonlands, which are at site clearance stage and the acquisition of La Mercy land is now at an advanced stage, with all the necessary approvals being secured and sale agreements being circulated.
“To date we have reduced these centres from 135 to 80.”
On Sunday Dube-Ncube and her team visited 47 families at Truro Hall, one of the care centres for flood victims.
“Our purpose was to communicate to the families that as of today they will be moving to this dignified transitional accommodation, where each family will have a room of their own and enjoy their privacy.
To date the total amount of R406.8m has been received by the affected municipalities to perform various works. The eThekwini grant of R185bn has been approved and transferred to the metro on September 7.
— KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube
“As we relocate these families here, earthworks and construction are under way a few kilometres down the road, where the department of human settlements and public works is building 80 new state-of-the art three-story buildings that will become permanent homes for our citizens whose lives and livelihoods were devastated by the floods. Today’s closure of the Truro Hall community care centre represents the progress we are making as government to help people rebuild their lives,” said Dube-Ncube.
The social development department would issue vouchers to the families during the course of the week to help them procure food.
The national department of human settlements granted close to R325.8m to the provincial department from the provincial emergency housing grant for the provision of emergency housing solutions.
“This has enabled the delivery of temporary residential units (TRU) which stand at 1,315 units provincially. Out of the 1,315 TRUs completed to date, 1,202 have been occupied leaving ... 113 not occupied. We are delighted to report that all the remaining 80 shelters have now been linked to land parcels, but these land parcels are at different stages of readiness. We appreciate the approval of a rental assistance scheme and temporary residential accommodation which will help us achieve the eradication of all mass care centres.”
Dube-Ncube said 19 buildings were being considered for temporary emergency accommodation.
“These include former student accommodation, former hotels and state-owned properties. These facilities are not being used. They include Westpoint, Montclair, and Ntuzuma former KFC land and will give us 60 temporary residential units.
“The criteria is that we look for existing accommodation and consider if it is habitable, does it have basic services, water, electricity, sanitation, cooking facilities, laundry. We are doing 100 TRUs a week and six districts will as of today, complete their allocation of TRUs.”
Meanwhile, the full restoration of water supply to the Tongaat area and repairs to sewer networks and sewer pump networks are expected to be completed by the end of November.
Dube-Ncube explained the department of co-operative governance, through the national disaster management centre (NDMC), co-ordinates the submission of funding requests for emergency relief measures from organs of state that incurred damage due to flooding.
“To date the total amount of R406.8m has been received by the affected municipalities to perform various works. The eThekwini grant of R185bn has been approved and transferred to the metro on September 7.”
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