The KwaZulu-Natal government is considering prohibiting people from building houses near river banks in future.
Premier Sihle Zikalala says most of the people affected by recent floods had built their homes near river banks.
The death toll from the floods now stands at 443.
Mop-up operations continue in the province:
Zikalala says in future, municipalities need to be stricter in ensuring that no one builds in high-risk areas.
The Premier was giving an update on the situation in the province during a media briefing in Durban.
“The case of persons who have built houses along the river banks will receive priority attention because mostly these are people that get affected when ever there are floods. A number of homes along these river banks were affected. Many still remain precariously perched on the edge of the river. The reality is no building should ever have been allowed to be erected at such a location, as part of the future plans we should implement a no building across all municipalities using the prevention of re-emergence of slumps act.”
Monitoring of funds
Zikalala says the funds allocated for flood relief in the province will be closely monitored. Government has already identified one-billion rand that can be released to assist those affected by the floods. Z
Zikalala gave the assurance that no money will be used to enrich individuals.
“All the resources allocated for flood relief and the recovery and building process will be utilised in line with Fiscal prudence accountability transparency and openness. We want to emphasise the fact that having learnt the lessons of COVID-19, no amount of corruption, maladministration or fraud will be tolerated in the province. We want to assure our communities that all the funds will be used prudently and that no one will be allowed to abuse the suffering of the people in order to line-up their pockets.”
Mortuaries in control
Zikalala says government is in control of the situation at mortuaries in the province. This after reports that government mortuaries have a backlog in conducting postmortems.
The added burden to mortuaries is as of a result of the floods that have claimed the hundreds of lives.
“We are in control of the situation through the Department of Health we have completed 243 postmortems and are left with 114 more to complete. We have mobilised additional resources including seven doctors to ensure that the postmortems are completed speedily in order to avoid congestion and to enable those who are grieving to bury their loved ones. Our officials are constantly monitoring the situation and sending bodies to those facilities that do have space,” says the Premier.
