The Department of Social Development (DSD) has failed to produce adequate shelter for 156 Marshalltown fire survivors living at the Recreational Centre in Bez Valley.
The Centre was misled to accommodate the survivors for 72 hours as per the Disaster Management Act.
To date nothing has happened. Instead, the recreational centre has been forced to be a shelter with no proper support from the relevant departments. The staff of the recreational centre were not trained for the social challenges that come with the survivors.
Several complaints from the community have surfaced about the alleged selling of drugs.
On Friday the DA conducted an oversight inspection where we bore witness to the terrible state of the centre and smell of cannabis in a sleeping hall where children were playing.
Not only have the survivors began to vandalise the property, but some have also begun to use the store room for sex work.
It is over 40 days since the DSD placed these survivors at the centre. In the meantime, the centre has had to cancel revenue generating activities such as wedding receptions and sports activities.
The DA demands that MEC Mbali Hlophe urgently migrate these individuals to a proper shelter.
The DA will not watch such a beautiful facility decay due to the incompetence of the current government.
In addition, the DA will be writing questions to ascertain if DSD has written to the relevant embassies requesting them to assist with their citizens especially those who are undocumented.
Many South African survivors stated that the National Minister of Social Development promised relief funds, however this has not happened.
The DA will not allow these survivors to go through secondary trauma in a makeshift shelter.