Disgruntled April flood victims disrupt KZN cabinet meeting

About two hundred people have disrupted a cabinet meeting of the KwaZulu-Natal government at Mayville in Durban.

The group, that has been living in community halls since the April floods, are demanding that funds be released so they can receive proper housing.

Over 400 people were killed during the floods. Thousands more were displaced.

Addressing protestors, coordinator for the peoples’ organisation the Umsinsi Movement, Vukile Mnembe says their leaders are in a meeting with the provincial cabinet.

“We are representing people who are currently living at the halls to say that [Finance Minister] Enoch Godongwana must release this R1 billion. Enoch Godongwana is blaming [KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance] Nomusa Dube and [KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works] Jomo Sibiya saying they never requested this R1 billion. Today we are telling them that we are here, we want Nomusa Dube and Jomo Sibiya to tell us where is this R1 billion.”

Suitable land

In late May, Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said her department is looking for suitable land for flood-affected families of KwaZulu-Natal to return to.

Her department was briefing Parliament’s Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery about  government’s interventions in provinces recently affected by flooding.

Dlamini-Zuma said the aim is to find alternative land for those who live in vulnerable areas where mudslides are likely to occur.

“We are working with Public Works, looking for land suitable for residential areas so those pieces of land used to build so people don’t go back to those planes,” she said.