Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa has urged the government to relocate residents living in low-lying areas to safer, more suitable dwellings.
His call comes in the wake of recent floods in the Eastern Cape, which have claimed 57 lives and displaced hundreds more.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing for those missing, including four learners who were travelling in a minibus taxi that was swept away by flood waters.
Assessing the damage in the area, Hlabisa says saving lives should be the top priority.
“To save their lives … We need to take a very hard stance as a government because they were not placed by the government here. They will need to cooperate to let us find you a place where you can start building, and if it means allowing the government, as time goes through the housing programme. It’s a separate programme, but if you would say we will wait for the housing programme, the climate is not waiting.”
EC Floods | Death toll rises to 57 in the Eastern Cape
