Human Settlements' Kubayi firm on not devolving disaster response funds to municipalities
Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said that municipalities had failed to utilise the funding effectively in the past.
A number of homes in the Endlovini informal settlement in Khayelitsha, in Cape Town were damaged when a storm hit the area on 11 July 2024. Picture: @The_DHS/X
CAPE TOWN - The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said that it was unfortunate that the national Human Settlements Department was not willing to devolve disaster response funds to municipalities.
Hill-Lewis said that under the current system controlled by Human Settlements department, it took longer for help to get to disaster victims.
The municipality issued a statement on Wednesday suggesting that the disaster relief funds should be allocated to municipalities to speed up disaster response times.
Hill-Lewis: "From what I hear, there were lot of municipalities that were not delivering, but from our experience, we can do it quite quickly, I mean we have been distributing kits in the last few days, thousands. They [the department] seem to be doing it quite quickly now, so let me be fair to them, they seem to be doing it quite quickly this time. They are saying that kits will be here by Friday, maybe Saturday."
While visiting flood victims in Khayelitsha on Thursday, Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi responded that municipalities had failed to utilise the funding effectively in the past.
"There's no need to devolve because since we took the responsibility, there's quite a good feedback we are getting on the ground in turnaround but also holistic intervention. We learn from another province how best to do, we come to do it in another province."