City no longer providing emergency building kits for floods or fires

Severe budget constraints have affected the City's supply of emergency building kits.

And now the City says it will no longer be providing emergency building kits for floods or fires.

Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi said: “Unfortunately, there is no money to continue this extra service that goes beyond our core basic services mandate as a municipality.

“We have explored all possible grant options, but since the grant that the City used to provide this service has been cut, there is currently no other way of funding the extra service.”

Booi said the City was able to issue fire kits only in terms of a declared disaster and no longer for isolated cases.

“Worth noting, the City will still assist fire- and flood-affected residents in terms of a declared disaster and in terms of their resettlement. A new service that the City will be offering is the issuing of a proof of residency certificate which will be of valuable help to the qualifying residents.

“The City will continue to look at ways to accelerate the delivery of housing opportunities for qualifying beneficiaries even amid the national budget cuts,” he said.

According to the City, it had spent approximately R106 million on supplying fire and flood kits over “previous financial years” compared to R169 million in total over the entire preceding decade. The City has seen a reduction of R118 million in its Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) this year.

“For more than a decade, the City delivered a unique service by issuing emergency fire- and flood-building kits to residents. Cape Town is the only metro in South Africa that has offered this additional service outside of declared disasters,” said Booi.

ANC City caucus spokesperson Fiona Abrahams said: This City is abdicating its responsibility as a local sphere. It is a City's responsibility to create an environment that is conducive to its citizens, not the other way around.

“We are not surprised by this move. We saw it coming when the City was unable to spend the USDG from the National Department of Human Settlements. The City is one of the poorest performing municipalities when it comes to the USDG.

“Year in year out, the City of Cape Town has been returning money to the treasury because of poor spending. They have been warned several times to use the money or lose it. The City must tell the truth, not cook up some conspiracy theories.”

Cape Argus