KZN municipalities urged to enforce by-laws to prevent disaster deaths

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has called on all municipalities in the province to strictly enforce by-laws to prevent the building of informal settlements, particularly in areas prone to natural disasters.

The call follows the destruction of several homes by floods on Sunday in New Hanover, which falls under the uMshwathi Local Municipality.

READ: KZN COGTA calls for immediate prioritisation of all New Hanover flood victims

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), responsible for municipalities and disaster management, stated that stricter by-law enforcement was essential to curb the loss of life during disasters.

MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi, the head of KZN CoGTA, emphasised that all 54 KwaZulu-Natal municipalities must adhere to this directive.

"Even the people where they’ve built, the municipality had not given them permission for them to build, but they built there in any case. Therefore, we are calling on municipalities across the province to enforce by-laws strictly because that is what is going to save lives," MEC Buthelezi said.

Buthelezi contends that the failure of municipalities to implement their by-laws is to blame for deadly disasters.

"It is very unfortunate that even the victims that we are talking about today are simply because people have built in areas which they are not supposed to build on."