The recent spate of disasters has left the coffers of the KwaZulu-Natal department of social development empty, social development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza said on Monday.

Aside from the Covid-19 pandemic, the province had to deal with the July unrest last year and floods that devastated the province in April.

Khoza told TimesLIVE relief efforts after those disasters depleted the funds set aside for disasters.

“This disaster came as a surprise to every one of us, the funds we had set aside for disaster were not enough to cover one of this magnitude. So we have had to reprioritise our resources within what we had set aside for disaster.

“Remember, we were from Covid-19, which had taken a lot of funds from the department in terms of provision for the SRD [social relief of distress] grants.

“We were from another disaster in the form of the July civil unrest, where we had to take care of people who were touched very hard by the unrest. Now we are left with absolutely nothing.”

Khoza was speaking at the Marianneridge community hall  in Pinetown on Monday.

As part of the build up to Women’s Day, Khoza and social development minister Lindiwe Zulu conducted an oversight visit to shelters set up to provide temporary housing for people displaced after the floods.

The department partnered with the International We Love U Foundation — a South Korean non-profit organisation that operates in more than 60 countries — to deliver 500 boxes of relief goods to the 78 flood victims housed in the Marianneridge community hall before co-hosting a women’s lunch programme with Action Development Agency (ADA) for 150 women in the Malukazi area, Isipingo.

The department said the assessment was part of the national Women’s Month programme to assess the situation of women and girls in temporary shelters as they are disproportionately affected by disasters.

Khoza said they are relying on the assistance of NGOs and government structures such as the SA Social Security Agency and the National Youth Development Agency to help flood victims still in community shelters.

Lehlohonolo Makhokolo, from the communications department of the International We Love U Foundation, said the organisation had more 155,000 members in 65 countries since they launched in 2001.

“We heard the news of this disaster that wreaked havoc in KwaZulu-Natal, especially Durban, where any people lost their homes and others lost their lives. So we came here to donate 500 boxes of relief goods to help the people facing these difficulties.”

Zulu said living in community shelters for more than four months is too long and she will push the department of human settlements to speed up the process to make sure it does not go past six months.

However, she admitted the issue of finding suitable places to build temporary residential units convenient for people who have jobs and school pupils is a challenge.

TimesLIVE