It has been over a year since the disastrous KwaZulu Natal floods took the lives of over 400 people leaving more than 40,000 people displaced in April 2022.

PEOPLE ARE DISPLACED

A year later it is hard to believe that there are still people who are displaced. The floods happened in KwaZulu Natal on the coastal zone including the greater Durban area and South Coast. This led to calamitous flooding with 459 people losing their lives and 88 people who went missing at the time. Over 4000 homes were destroyed, around 40 000 people were left homeless, 45 000 people were temporarily left unemployed. The cost of infrastructure and business losses amounted to an estimated R25 billion. The 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.

BROKEN PROMISES

KZN Premier Nomusa Dube Ncube recently placed the people in their new homes but there are still people who are still living in halls. 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 R 1 billion was announced as part of the funds meant for the families that were 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 the people that were affected by the floods.," he said. Flood victim Zethu Kheswa from Umzinyathi outside Durban told Zimoja that she did not benefit from the flood money. Zethu lost three houses during the floods. "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 that did not benefit from that money which was meant to assist us flood victims. It?s painful because some families lost everything from those floods and when we speak to the ward councillors 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 faith 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," s