Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi, says government has been hard at work to relocate the families affected by the devastating floods in the Western Cape this week.

Thousands of people in the province have been rendered homeless after flooding destroyed their homes.

‘We’ve been able to relocate families into a building that, as government, we have leased for 30 days while we are finding a solution in terms of the informal settlement because they have submerged, whether the rain will come down and we move them back or we have to find an alternative land where we relocate them,’ she said.

The Minister added, however, that finding suitable land was proving elusive.

‘The challenge in the City of Cape Town is land availability and the requirements we have to follow in terms of our processes of approvals for land use.

‘So currently those that were affected in terms of their buildings, formal structures, the assessment has been done by the [National Home Builders Registration Council]. We have rece
ived the first report. We are hoping that by Monday, we would have that intervention as fixing those houses by our service providers that we have been able to appoint.

‘The materials for the informal settlements are starting to be delivered,’ Kubayi said.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape provincial government said it has given the green light for some households in Newton in the Drakenstein Municipality to return home.

This after 900 households in the area were evacuated when it was established that a dam wall in the area was at risk of failure due to the severe flooding.

‘Working in consultation with the Department of Water and Sanitation and a dam engineering specialist, Drakenstein Municipality’s Engineering Services Department performed another onsite inspection this morning of the farm dam above Newton and confirmed that the risk of dam wall failure has been mitigated.

‘This decision was taken in light of the fact that the water level of 150 000-cubic-meter dam in the Bo-Dal area dropped slightly since l
ast night, as well as the lighter rainfall predicted for today.

‘According to the authorities, the dam should be able to handle the flow of water that is expected to reach it today.

‘The municipality will keep on monitoring the dam closely and notify residents immediately should the situation change,’ the Western Cape government said.

Source: South African Government News Agency