Letters | Housing for all under threat of climate change
"It is not only climate disaster that robs KZN’s people of security. The DHS’s title deed backlog is a silent injustice."
KZN’s Department of Human Settlements (DHS) has one of the most important responsibilities in our province — ensuring that every citizen has access to safe, dignified and secure housing — but we cannot talk of human settlements without mentioning the existential threat of climate change.
The disturbing reality is that KZN sits at the forefront of climate-related disasters in South Africa. The April 2022 floods were not a once-off event, they were a warning of what lies ahead. The last two weeks have brought more flooding and destruction and it is the poorest in our province who suffer most. Families in low-lying, flood-prone informal settlements have lost everything — their homes, loved ones and livelihoods.
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KZN’s DHS must now urgently review land allocation policies, prioritising safer ground for development and reinforcing climate-resilient infrastructure. Human settlements planning cannot exist in isolation, it must be disaster-resilient and guided by environmental intelligence.
In the DA-led City of Cape Town, there is a city-wide risk based informal settlements upgrading plan that looks at how to design new infrastructure taking into consideration flood risks. It is not only climate disaster that robs KZN’s people of security. The DHS’s title deed backlog is a silent injustice. And, with a 2025/25 target of only 2481 registered title deeds, there is little hope of getting through the massive backlog. KZN needs a task team with clear targets and time lines, and in-house DHS conveyancers to unblock this system.
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The fact is that while KZN’s government of provincial unity (GPU) offers solutions, the MKP waxes lyrical about “radical change”. This is ironic given that MKP founder, former president Jacob Zuma, cost our country an estimated R500 billion through state capture. As part of KZN’s GPU, the DA will continue to fight for what is right and insist that the DHS be bold in the pursuit of housing for all. Nothing less will suffice.
Hannah Lidgett, MPL DA KZN alternate spokesperson on Human Settlements
