Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements chairperson Nocks Seabi stated on Monday that during periods of devastation and distress, government programmes must not be tied up in “bureaucracy and territorial disputes” that delay interventions.

After a level five weather warning was issued for KwaZulu-Natal, heavy rains continue to ravage the province bringing mudslides and floods which have claimed the lives of 11 people and destroyed homes.

Seabi called for the removal of impediments to the Emergency Housing Response Fund serving victims of floods, saying the fund must be “timeous and agile” in assisting the victims.

He called on the national Department of Human Settlements, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements and the eThekwini metropolitan municipality to ensure a “strong collaborative response and the urgent unlocking” of the Emergency Housing Response Fund in response to the ongoing floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

In its oversight visit last year the committee highlighted various concerns with the delay in ensuring access to the fund for victims of floods.

“We are hopeful that the concessions made by the national department on the implementation of the fund will come in handy in the response to the current disaster. The delays witnessed previously, such as the verification of beneficiaries and assessment of damaged houses, which had taken 10 to 12 months or longer, should be a thing of the past going forwards,” Seabi emphasised.

He also called for enhanced monitoring of building standards as regulated by laws such as the Housing Consumer Protection Act and the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act to ensure houses were able to withstand the elements.

“In an environment of increasing environmental disasters, building standards and building materials should be such that they can withstand such disasters. Stronger monitoring and inspections should be the order of the day,” he noted.