By Anita Dangazele
After weeks of protests, the national Environmental Affairs Department has approved land in Kariega for temporary homes for Lapland informal settlement flood victims.
Over 100 families from Lapland will move to the new Van Rooyen site in Kariega.
This approval comes two weeks after the flood victims were forced out of a temporary shelter and returned to Lapland on 7 July.
Residents protested, demanding answers from President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had promised that they would move to temporary houses in Van Rooyen within 30 days.
However, the metro explained that residents were not evicted but returned to Lapland because the lease for the temporary shelter had expired.
The municipality told residents they would be returned to Lapland while awaiting the department’s approval.
The metro also looked into the post-flood condition of the residents’ shacks in Lapland and found them safe to live in.
NMBM executive mayor Gary van Niekerk said the approval would allow the metro to start preparing the site for the Van Rooyen relocation.
“We are happy to have received the approval on Monday, 22 July. This brings us closer to relocating the flood-affected community. We have noted the conditions attached to the approval, and our teams are already working on them.
“We will provide basic services to the sites and then build temporary shelters. The long-term plan is to build proper houses in that area,” said Van Niekerk.
One of the department’s conditions is that no other shacks should be built in Lapland.
“We ask our communities to work with us to ensure that no one else builds a shack and lives in the Lapland site or other flood-prone areas in the metro,” he said.
Pictured above: Lapland flood victims sit outside a temporary shelter after being evicted on 7 July.
Source: Supplied
