The KwaZulu-Natal human settlements department is in a contentious standoff with a group of Durban flood victims over plans to temporarily relocate them to a community hall from their beachfront hotel.
More than 50 families are back on the streets just months after the February floods that claimed five lives and forced residents from the Gwala Road settlements in Lamontville, south of Durban.
The families were thrown out of their temporary accommodation at the Bayside Hotel near the Golden Mile on Wednesday morning because of an outstanding debt by the provincial human settlements department.
“Delays caused by processes around obtaining approvals to avoid audit findings and irregular expenditure by the auditor-general resulted in the unfortunate eviction of flood victims from the hotel,” human settlements MEC Siboniso Duma said on Thursday.
“We have already paid R185m to hotels and self-catering accommodation for flood victims. We need a further R128m to accommodate 1,200 families.”
This is the third accommodation they’ve had to vacate in the five months following the flood damage to their homes.
Thulani Mashwathi, a member of the residents' committee, told TimesLIVE Premium they first relocated to Shallcross, but their stay there was met with objection from the community. They were then moved to Impala Lodge and then to Bayside Hotel a few weeks later.
“We were promised when we leave here we would be going straight to our new homes since our houses on Gwala Road were demolished. Now we’re thrown out and no-one from government or the municipality is communicating with us,” he said.
The eviction notice was issued to them on Tuesday, but they convinced the hotel management to give them more time to approach the municipality, who told them the matter would be sorted out, he said.
“They evicted us the next morning [Wednesday] because none of the offices responsible for payment engaged them as promised and they [authorities] were not taking calls either. Previously, the management would call and payment would be made, so this non-communication is what made them panic.”
The flood victims, including children and the elderly, spent the night on the corner of Prince Alfred and Pixley ka Isaka Seme streets — after objecting to a late night move to Chesterville Community Hall as a temporary measure.
“There are terrified individuals who have informed us they have been intimidated not to move to Chesterville Community Hall. This is unacceptable in view of the fact that there are children who were exposed to this cold weather the whole night and this morning.”
Mashwathi, who has an infant daughter, spent the night on the street.
“My four-month old daughter recently went to hospital because of a severe cold and now she had to spend a cold night on the street, that hurt me. We are still here and we don’t have any direction on a way forward.
“If our houses had not been demolished we would be going back because we don’t like to be here. It’s humiliating as a man to sleep on the street with your family.”
He denied they had been canvassed to move to the hall saying it was a decision they took because of negative experiences in the past and because of the department's failure to keep them informed.
“Because of what happened in Shallcross, we decided it would not be safe to go to a new area at night, where no-one knows us and not even knowing whether community members are aware of our arrival. We also noted that if they neglected us while we’re here, how much more when we’re in a community hall where they don’t even have to pay. So we decided not to go without clarity on what is happing.”
Those sentiments were supported by fellow resident Nqobile Qambu.
“Duma didn’t even come here, yet he’s saying our leadership was mobilising people not to go to halls, which is lies. No-one said we should not go there. We didn’t go there because we know how it is there, we’ve lived in halls since 2011. They will dump us there and forget about us, they won’t even answer their phones afterwards,” she said.
Themba Mvubu, the chairperson of the human settlements and transport authority in eThekwini municipality, told TimesLIVE Premium the municipality was willing to assist but the relocation of the flood victims and the payment agreement was between the hotel and the department.
“The reality of the matter is the function of human settlements is not a function of the municipality. Whatever we implement, we do on their behalf provided that there is budget,” he said.
“Any arrangement that was entered into between the national department of settlements and Bayside Hotel has got nothing to do with the city, but these are the residents of eThekwini, so when there is a crisis we can’t fold our arms and say this is not our mandate.”
He said stakeholders were “finding each other” on a possible solution instead of moving them to a community hall.
Sfiso Xulu, MK Party leader in ward 26, called for a speedy resolution to the matter before it escalates.
“We have political parties singing with the same tune that enough is enough. At this point the situation needs present leadership from the highest structures before it manifests into people mobilising the community and the situation gets out of hand, so they must come and find a solution while it’s early.”
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