DURBAN - eTHEKWINI Municipality handed over building material and food parcels to families whose homes were damaged by severe storms in Ntuzuma, north of Durban.
A total of 290 families in nine wards had their houses damaged following a storm last Wednesday.
Twenty-five families from wards 38, 41, 44 and 45, including a family in Ward 56 whose child succumbed to injuries days after the storm, were given food parcels and building material.
This comes after the disaster management unit visited Ntuzuma for inspections and implemented interventions to assist.
Municipal speaker Thabani Nyawose said the families who were assisted were in need of an urgent intervention.
“In this ward alone, 92 households were compromised, which justifies why we are here. I do not want to hear people saying we are biased because we only came to this ward. This ward is severely affected. There are people whose houses were left without roofs while others were completely destroyed.”
He said that most of the families could afford to rebuild on their own.
“Our assessment through the disaster management team, structures and the council, agreed that these families were the most affected. A few days ago I was told the children slept without food,” said Nyawose.
He said the rebuilding project to restore the communities lives was estimated to be R19.7 million.
“We are here with the senior officials to show that this would be a priority of the City. We want to ensure that we will keep assisting the community in every way possible until the end of June 2022. Teams will continue to bring food parcels, provide building material, restore power and cut down the trees.”
Nyawose urged the community not to build on areas that were not safe during rainy seasons.
“Our people have a tendency of building in wrong places due to their lack of knowledge regarding landscape. They must not waste their money and hard work building anywhere without permission. They must avoid this in future because some end up losing their lives,” he said.
Nondumiso Dlamini, 37 who lives with her brother and six children in a three-bedroom house which was built by their late grandmother, said food and a roof was not enough.
“The walls continue to crack. I don’t understand how the roof is going to help in this situation. We were hoping they would at least try to build proper houses for us as soon as possible.”
However, she said she was happy they were being assisted.
Another resident, Thembisile Mlaba 62, said she feared the walls might collapse on the family at night.
She, her two children and five grandchildren moved in with neighbours.
Daily News