Housing project for KZN flood victims creeps forward

113 homes have been handed over to flood victims in Cornubia. Hundreds more families are still waiting for permanent housing. Photos: Joseph Bracken

Over 100 families displaced during floods have finally been given homes in Cornubia, north of Durban. Hundreds more families in eThekwini are living in temporary emergency accommodation awaiting permanent homes.

Zodwa Magwaza, whose shack was destroyed in flooding in April 2022, has been living in temporary accommodation paid for by the municipality since 2023.

“This is my first real home,” said Magwaza.

The 113 homes in Cornubia were handed over in May, but were supposed to have been completed in December 2025. These are among 1,200 houses being built by the KwaZulu-Natal human settlements department and the eThekwini Municipality at a cost of R600-million.

Another 460 units are to be completed by March 2027.

Last year, GroundUp reported that renting private buildings for temporary emergency accommodation for about 4,000 people has cost the provincial government at least R185-million.

Hundreds of people remain in temporary shelters, waiting for a permanent home. In Point Road, some residents were served eviction notices last month. They are to be moved to Montclair Lodge, a building bought from Transnet for R33-million.

Renovations have been completed at 135 of the housing units at the lodge, said municipal spokesperson Mandla Nsele.

“By the end of June 2026, the City anticipates the completion of 309 units, while the remaining 127 units are still in the detailed design stage.”

Most people at Point Road have agreed to move, but some are refusing. They believe it will lower their chances of getting permanent housing in the future.

Nomvula Mafu, who was displaced in the 2022 floods, told GroundUp that she arrived in Point Road in 2023 and was told she would only be there for six months.

“We were told by municipal officials that we would be a part of the first intake of people moved into permanent housing … Now we are told that others are being prioritised. It is not fair because we are also suffering.”

The municipality says it has no record of such a promise.

Many Point Road flood victims lost their jobs because they could not afford to travel to work after being moved, said Mafu.

To support their families, many resorted to alternative ways to make an income, such as taking crushed cans to recycling depots, she said.

A resident of Point Road temporary accommodation crushes cans. She sells these to recycling depots for extra money.

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