KZN Floods: DA welcomes Premier’s temporary housing promise, calls for transparency over expenditure
25 April 2022
The Democratic Alliance welcomes a commitment by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Sihle Zikalala to build 4 396 temporary residential units (TRU’s) during the next week to accommodate families displaced during the recent devastating floods in the province.
The almost 4 000 families are currently being accommodated in halls, churches, and schools. According to the Premier, TRU’s are currently being constructed in iLembe, Ugu and eThekwini.
The Premier has set a massive target for his provincial government within the next seven days. It is, however, a step in the right direction. Government’s top priority must indeed be those who have lost their homes.
The DA’s main concern at this stage is that these TRU's will end up becoming permanent fixtures. Families cannot still be living in these units five years from now. This is particularly relevant given that there are already thousands of people living under shocking conditions in KZN’s transit camps while they wait in vain for government housing promised to them years ago.
Given this, the Premier needs to clarify whether this is a short-term plan and what his government’s long-term solution is. He also needs to outline the following;
- Who is building these houses and at what cost?
- What process was used to appoint contractors?
- What kind of terrain will they be erected on and will they have proper services supplied and;
- What emergency infrastructure systems will be in place so that they are safe against future storms and flooding?
The Premier is on record saying that a transparent process will be implemented in the spending of disaster relief funding. This is not the case with the TRU’s.
There is a lot that could go wrong and the Premier and his Executive must be accountable at all times. All monies allocated must be used appropriately and there must be no room whatsoever for corruption.
The DA will be monitoring this matter very closely through Legislature channels and on-the-ground site inspections by our MPL’s and councillors.
Issued by Francois Rodgers, Leader of the DA in the KZN Legislature, 25 April 2022
