Many survivors still waiting for assistance, a year after floods

One year after the devastating floods that killed 104 people in the Eastern Cape, some survivors say they are still living in damaged homes in flood-prone areas. The concerns emerged on Wednesday during a prayer and candlelight remembrance ceremony at the Mandela Primary School in Slovo Park, Mthatha, where families gathered to honour victims of the June 2025 disaster. Among them was Nkosiyethu Mabhentsela, 53, whose six-room home in Ehlathini, near Slovo Park, was badly damaged when floodwaters submerged the property.

When co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa visited the disaster zone after the tragedy, he said people living in flood-prone areas would be moved to safer locations and eventually provided with houses. “I might have got out alive, but now when it rains I get scared,” he said. “I always wonder whether my family and I would survive a second time.

“My house is unstable and full of cracks. I don’t know whether it will withstand it.” Mabhentsela said he and other residents were initially told to return to their damaged homes while awaiting assistance and relocation. “We were told the government would help us repair our homes and move us to safer areas, but we never heard anything after that,” he said. Siphosakhe Vuso, another Ehlathini resident, said he spent nearly three hours trapped inside his house as water levels rose.