KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works Jomo Sibiya has tabled a R4.123-billion budget for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements for the 2022/23 financial year as the province seeks to assist those affected by the devastating April floods. The province was recently hard hit by floods that claimed the lives of more than 400 people and left many families displaced.
Our government derives its approach to Human Settlements from the injunction contained in the Freedom Charter that says: “There Shall Be Houses, Security and Comfort!”.
At the centre of the rising demand for urban human settlement land is the rapid rise of urbanisation. Urbanisation is not a uniquely South African or African phenomenon, it is a global issue that requires urgent attention. In our country, the majority of the poor people who migrate to cities end up in informal settlements, either adding to the already overcrowded settlements or establishing new settlement through illegal land occupation.