Martin Meyer MPL
There is not a section of society that has not been negatively affected by the extended and severe lockdown brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. While we acknowledge that urgent steps needed to be taken to deal with the health crisis, the economic impact seems to have been widely ignored by the government of the day.
While the focus has been mostly on rising unemployment as a result of the lockdown, the closure of ANC-led government departments responsible for service delivery has also had a massive impact on the poor and disadvantaged in our province.
For the first quarter of the current financial year, KZN’s Department of Human Settlements was only able to build 789 housing units despite a target of 3489. The provision of other services as per the department’s mandate is looking equally grim.
To make matters worse, the province’s Human Settlements Development Grant has been cut by 10.6% - to R358 294 million - while the target to provide houses in KZN has also been cut from 13 786 to 11 020.
While these factors are largely beyond the control of the Department of Human Settlements, MEC Peggy Nkonyeni will have to come up with an urgent emergency plan to address the province’s growing housing backlog, now made so much worse by the lockdown.
While “Covidpreneurs” and corrupt elements within the ANC have become even richer as a result of the health pandemic, it remains the poor that suffer the brunt of this crisis.