Emergency housing team dispatched to assist collapsed dam victims

Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has dispatched an emergency housing team to urgently assist displaced families whose homes were flooded when the walls of a dam collapsed in the Swartland Municipality in the Western Cape.

Kubayi said the ongoing assessment will inform what interventions required for all the affected households.

The Minister highlighted there are four categories of interventions provided by the department and these include restoration, relocation, rebuilding and repairs.

“We have directed the team to ensure that the affected households are assisted with emergency accommodation, particularly the vulnerable groups. It is unfortunate that we now have to deal with this incident, while we are still reeling from another recent disaster that left people homeless,” Kubayi said.

Kubayi said the families whose homes were affected by last week’s disaster in Riverlands are being provided shelter at Riverlands Community Bakery Centre and Riverlands Church.

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“The team from human settlements has compiled a list of approximately 100 displaced people, who have expressed their reluctance to be moved to safer temporary accommodation, citing a need to take care of their livestock,” Kubayi said.

The Minister said the National Home Builders’ Registration Council (NHBRC), which forms part of the disaster team, is currently on site will assess the structural integrity of damaged properties as soon as the water subsides.

The department commended NGOs that are already on the ground to assist victims.

Transparency in allocating houses

Meanwhile, Kubayi has reiterated the importance of transparency in allocating houses and delivering other housing programmes within the human settlements sector.

During her engagement with listeners on the Power FM breakfast show last week, Kubayi confirmed that the department is fully committed to dealing with any allegations of fraud and corruption, mainly in the allocation of fully subsidised houses, also known as Breaking New Ground (BNG).

“We are rectifying and reconfiguring our human settlements delivery system. Digitising the beneficiary list system is our main priority because it will radically improve our operations as a department.

“We have been entrusted with over R31 billion during this financial to respond to the housing needs of our people. Every cent must be accounted for and effectively used to restore the dignity of the poor and the vulnerable among us,” Kubayi said.

Kubayi was on Power FM as a special host of the breakfast show, as the country commemorates Women’s Month.

The Minister used the opportunity to invite listeners to give her tips to improve the delivery of sustainable human settlements.

Listeners raised several issues, including government’s response to land invasions by capacitating municipalities to effectively deal with this challenge; conducting an audit to determine if BNG houses have been given to the rightful owners, and attending to blocked projects.

Kubayi also interviewed the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Thembi Simelane, on justice for women and the Deputy Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, on the scourge of teenage pregnancy. – SAnews.gov.za