The issue of land has been a source of conflict globally for centuries, and in SA we know all too well that lives have been lost over this and the heartache it still causes.
Deputy president David Mabuza admitted the issue of land was an important factor in much of the devastation that ravaged KZN during the floods in April and May.
Speaking at the communal land administration and tenure summit on Friday, he said the KZN floods disaster showed the devastating outcome of building homes along river banks.
And given the impact of climate change and the unpredictable intensity of floods, he said, government would have to focus on spatial planning to anticipate and avert future disasters and rope in traditional leaders to promote responsible land development.
Interestingly, he conceded traditional leaders had raised concerns about the implementation of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA), seemingly with little action taken.
Herein lies the problem.
This is not a new issue, and Mabuza’s statements, while an honest appraisal of our government’s failures, is just a copy-and-paste summary of lessons learnt and a mistake that has cost lives and billions of rand.
KZN premier Sihle Zikalala said the floods led to R25bn in infrastructural damage, claimed the lives of 459 people and left about 88 people still missing.
In case government leaders needed reminding, several communities have bemoaned the tardy response to damaged infrastructure and the provision of essential services such as shelter and water.
In a peaceful protest in Tongaat on Monday, residents sealed entrances and exits out of the hard-hit north coast town that has gone 50 days without water.
Resident blockaded Watson Highway Road in Tongaat with burning tyres and stones as they vented their frustration.
One grandmother, Zarina Khan, said they had been failed by government because though there were water tankers, they didn’t service the entire community.
The situation is taking a heavy toll on businesses and schools.
A story in the Sunday Times at the weekend highlighted that the thousands of people left homeless after the April floods were no closer to finding a home as the government struggles to locate suitable land.
According to the provincial department of human settlements and public works, of the 4,983 temporary residential units required to accommodate those displaced in the province, only 108 have been completed.
But completion of the units — which will cost R352m to manufacture and erect — has hit a major snag with identifying land given the political complications and lack of suitable locations.
The issue of relief funding is a political circus; while national government promised R1bn in aid, the money is yet to materialise while people are suffer and live on handouts from NGOs and international benefactors.
A number of human rights organisations including Amnesty International SA have vowed to hold the government accountable in ensuring temporary housing sites do not turn into transit camps.
The residents at the Isipingo transit camp, south of Durban, who were promised permanent houses within six to eight months of relocation and forgotten, have experienced this irreverence.
On Sunday, after a substantial humanitarian donation from the government of Qatar in response to the floods, cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said they were looking to relocate people affected by the floods but rebuilding efforts needed to be more sustainable.
The people of KZN, who are without water, electricity, food and homes — and the people who are living in transit camps for years — are tired of rhetoric from government at times of death and devastation.
Experts in climate change, urban development and environmentalists have been sounding the alarm bell for years that the development of settlements in communal land is untenable and unsustainable.
Our government has a constitutional duty to provide adequate and safe housing for people. The time for bleating out platitudes and excuses is over. We owe it to those lives lost todemand that government deliver on its mandate.
