In April last year, heavy rains across KwaZulu Natal led to disastrous floods that claimed more than 400 lives with many unaccounted for. The floods displaced more than 40,000 people with over 4 000 homes destroyed.

THE DEADLY FLOODS

Almost two years later, there are still people who are displaced even after R1 billion emergency relief was set aside for the victims. The floods happened in KwaZulu Natal in the coast zone including the greater Durban area and South Coast. The floods also led to over 45,000 people being temporarily unemployed. The cost of infrastructure and business losses amounted to an estimated R25 billion. The then Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazane Dlamini Zuma declared the flooding a national state of disaster as per the Disaster Management Act.

NEW HOMES

After being kept at community halls for months, KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube placed the people in their new homes but there are still people who are still living in temporary shelters. Action SA Premier candidate Zwakele Mngcwango confirmed the news that a year later, there are still people who are yet to be placed in their new houses after R1 billion was announced as part of the funds meant to rebuild the lives of the families affected by the floods. "The challenge that we have is that the Premier was quick to announce that they have placed people in their new homes which we find to be untrue. There are still displaced people in the province and no one knows what happened to the money that was meant to build houses for them," Mngcwango said.

FLOOD VICTIMS SPEAK

Zethu Kheswa from Umzinyathi outside Durban whose family was displaced during the floods told ZiMoja that she did not benefit from the flood fund. "I did not benefit from the funds that were meant to help us. I had to build everything from scratch. The officials did not offer any help. There are many of us in this area who did not benefit from that money which was meant to assist us flood victims. It is painful because there are some. families that lost everything from those floods and when we speak to the ward councilors about getting funding for us, they just tell us that the money is being held by the province," she said. Another victim Ganile Zuma from KwaXimba outside Durban said that she has accepted her fate and that the government will not help them. "We just have to accept that the government will not come through for us. We just have to build our own houses as much as we don't have money but we have to soldier on. I have tried to involve local councillors but they have been ignoring us about the plans to assist us," she said. Some of the victims who did not want to be named said they were moved from community halls to overcrowded halls. The victims claim that they are sharing rooms with other families and that their conditions are dire. "We use the same showers with men as women, there is no privacy between children and parents. This is heartbreaking and because we cannot afford to rebuild our homes, we have no choice but to stay here until the government to something about our situation," a mother said. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the province failed to respond to our inquiry sent last month.