Tell eThekwini Municipality To Stop Turning Flood Zones Into Death Zones

The eThekwini municipality is FAILING communities in high-risk flood areas. Since April 2022, floods have been intensifying with over 450 lives lost [1] and thousands of homes destroyed [2]. This all could have been avoided. The municipality is supposed to, under the Disaster Management Act of 2002 [3], establish frameworks for disaster relief to ensure the prevention of the loss of life. The current framework is very weak and does not spell out what residents should do in the event of a flood; it does not speak to the assembly points in flood zones and the communication processes that the municipality plans to communicate with residents to alert them about a possible flood. The only thing the municipality has done is to sign an MOU with NGOs and the private sector, which promises that they will work together in the event of a flood. It does not specify how the municipality plans to evacuate or house people. 

It is clear, should there be a flood tomorrow, the municipality would not be ready and hundreds of lives would be lost and severely disrupted.

Areas such as eMlazi, eManzimtoti, Queensburg, Malvern, and Chatsworth were some of the badly affected areas in the 2022 floods.  Therefore, we want to know:

What is the current framework for evacuating people in eMlazi, eManzimtoti, Malvern, Queensburg, and Chatsworth?

What are the assembly points in these most affected areas?

Where do you plan to house families that have lost their homes and belongings in the event of a flood? 

How does the municipality plan to communicate with these communities to alert them of the flood? 

We want a report within 30 days that answers the above questions. 

Climate change is here to stay, and we will continue to feel it more and more intensely. That is why governments and municipalities need to be proactive in dealing with the effects of flooding and avoid the unnecessary loss of lives.

Sources:

[1]  KZN Floods Emergency Response – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF South Africa), accessed 26 August 2025. URL: https://www.msf.org.za/kzn-floods-emergency-response

[2] Des Erasmus, 2022, Ramaphosa vows comprehensive KZN recovery effort, zero corruption tolerance. [Online] Daily Maverick. Available at: Ramaphosa vows comprehensive KZN recovery effort, zero corruption tolerance Ramaphosa promises a hard line on KZN emergency disaster relief corruption [Accessed 26 August 2025]. 

[3] Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002. (South Africa), Disaster Management Act [online]. Available at: South African Government website (gov.za). Available from: