The Premier spoke about the recovery of KwaZulu-Natal after the devastating floods of April and May this year, but also from the negative impact of overall lag in economic growth around the world which preceded these tragic events.

Premier Dube-Ncube also gave an update on the Current Status Quo on the KwaZulu-Natal Rebuilding Programme:

In total, the recovery programme has been made possible because of the collaboration and close working relationship between government and all our partners and stakeholders.

• Most insured small businesses have reopened;

• The rebuilding of most Mega Malls such as Edendale and Bridge city is in progress;

• The rebuilding of the Mandeni Industrial Estate is in progress with some businesses still planning to rebuild;

• Toyota South Africa reopened in August 2022 and some major factories such as Defy have reopened;

• Some Makro shops have reopened and rebuilding yet to commence of some sites;

• Several Infrastructure (such as water, electricity and Water Reticulation) has been restored;

• Bayhead is back to Normal, running 2 lanes in and 2 lanes out and the reconstruction of the Bay Head Road Bridge will be completed in the medium term;

• The Beach Clean-up is ongoing with the city attending to the recent environmental issues such as high E-Coli levels.

The Premier also said the flood damage to roads and critical infrastructure such as railways, powerlines, businesses was the most visible, but the human element of suffering and displacement has been incalculable and even more resistant to quick resolution.

NOT IN MY BACKYARD

“As we tried to move displaced people into government halls in suburbs, we met with fierce resistance from local communities who protested that this would lower property values. As we try to build temporary and permanent accommodation in land parcels owned by government in suburbs, we have also encountered resistance.

 

We are also having to face unscrupulous private property owners who are ready to inflate prices when government is the client. The overall impact of this has been that six months after the disaster, we still have people in temporary accommodation especially in eThekwini and we are frustrated by the speed at which we have been able to permanently resettle all the victims of the April-May floods,” elaborated Premier Dube-Ncube.