Durban - The deputy mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Philani Mavundla, has called on government officials to cut back on oversight visits to eThekwini, and rather put action plans in place with timelines to yield results in building homes for those displaced in the floods.
Mavundla was responding to the National Council of Provinces co-chairperson of an ad-hoc joint committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery, Archibald Nyambi, who had last week written to eThekwini Municipality informing officials of his intended visit to KwaZulu-Natal to conduct a fact-finding visit on parts of the province severely affected by the recent floods.
In his response to Nyambi, Mavundla wrote that he would be failing in his promises to the people if he did not stand up and speak for all those who had suffered as a result of the flooding.
“We have held many meetings and war rooms, sometimes as many as two to four at the same time, not even knowing which one to attend. We have visited and revisited the affected areas, promising assistance to the affected people and yet to date we have only fixed what eThekwini Municipality can afford with funds reallocated from other budget lines.
“We have been promised assistance by the national government but nothing has been forthcoming, even after the second flood caused further damage.”
Mavundla said: “Our people have been placed in halls for over a month, with no sight of relief or an action plan in place, relying on humanitarian organisations for food and other basic needs, infringing on their basic human rights.
“Hundreds of people are sharing a big hall, taking away their dignity. I can safely say that no politician would last a week in the situation that we have placed our people.
“There are areas with no water, which is another infringement on their basic human rights. The Municipality of eThekwini has done their level best with the little funds allocated from other budget lines to bring water tankers to these areas, but this is not sustainable.
“The national government has promised to remedy the situation, yet no funds have been forthcoming,” he said.
Mavundla also stated that houses, roads and electricity networks had been damaged, but there was no sign of relief from the national government.
“Instead, we keep receiving leaders and politicians visiting the affected areas and promising relief. But nothing gets actioned, instead more visits are planned.”
Furthermore, he said that although visits were welcome, the people were losing hope due to unfulfilled promises by government officials.
“People are starting to feel like monkeys in a zoo, with so many visits by leaders and politicians, where we are promised aid and rehabilitation, but yielding no results,” said Mavundla.
Nyambi was asked to comment about Mavundla’s letter to him, but he had not responded to the Daily News at the time of publication.
Daily News