More than 150 flood victims who were accommodated at the Bayside Hotel in the Durban city centre have been evicted.

This after the KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements Department’s failure to make payments.

The victims will now be moved to the Chesterville Community Hall as a temporary measure.

They were housed in the hotel following devastating floods earlier this year.

The department says it has paid R185-million to different hotels.

Spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya says they need a further a R128-million to accommodate 1 200 people.

“Delays caused by processes around obtaining approvals to avoid audit findings and irregular expenditure by the Auditor-General, resulted in the unfortunate eviction of flood victims from the hotel. We met with Human Rights Commission last week and presented this matter. We could have built houses for some victims in identified state owned land such as in Shallcross and other areas but communities there chased away contractors who were starting to build.”