The City of Johannesburg removed 441 shacks from the Jukskei River banks on Friday following this week’s floods in Diepsloot.
”We identified 441 shacks that were affected by the floods. Temporary accommodation has been provided to the victims while the clean-up process is happening,” said city spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane.
The affected families were moved to Northern Works hostel and neighbouring centres.
The City of Johannesburg was negotiating with land owners to find suitable land for those left homeless by the floods, Modingoane said.
The body of a Diepsloot woman who drowned after her shack was swept away was found on Wednesday, Gauteng police said.
Emergency services managed to rescue her husband and two children — a baby girl and an 11-year-old boy.
The number of shack dwellings in South Africa rose from 1,45-million in 1996 to 2,14-million in 2003, Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu said on Friday.
That was 417 new shacks a day on average between 2001 and 2003 and 210 shacks per day on average in the five years between 1996 and 2001. — Sapa