Flood-hit community demands support

FRUSTRATED residents, business owners and small-scale farmers of Riverlands have handed over a memorandum to the Swartland Municipality, calling for inclusivity of infrastructure benefits and budgets, as 100 people continue to live in temporary homes without electricity or a toilet, nearly a year after a flood disaster.

- GENEVIEVE SERRA

This, while the municipality confirmed that R9.2 million was allocated for funding repairs to roads and to upgrade storm water systems.

The families told the Cape Argus they continued to live in squalor and despair, forced to use the bucket system while anxiously waiting for ablution facilities and electricity from Eskom.

On Tuesday, Riverlands Steering Committee members and residents handed over the memorandum, which was shared with the Cape Argus.

They held up placards and burned tyres to express their frustration.

The memorandum read: “In meetings with government and municipal authorities, it was agreed that the restoration of people's lives and livelihoods, particularly those of small-scale farmers and directly affected families, would take precedence over infrastructure development. However, we are now witnessing the opposite: infrastructure is being prioritised, while the affected residents remain in dire conditions. We therefore call on all relevant authorities to: recommit to the original agreement to prioritise people before infrastructure, immediately redirect support to those whose lives and means of income are still unrecovered, engage with the community transparently and urgently on the recovery plan.”