While other people enjoy living in their warm rooms, a man (49) from Mvilo location in Ngqeleni, who is partially blind, is living a miserable life as he does not have a proper shelter.
Luvuyo Gwadiso is living in a one-roomed house with his two sons, which gets wet whenever it rains.
When it is raining he covers himself only with plastic. He does not have a proper bed to sleep on, either.
One of his neighbours, Denyaseni Chazile, said the situation of his neighbour was very painful because no-one in the household is employed. According to Chazile, Gwadiso does not have an identity document, either.
“He is living with his brother in this house. Most of the time they depend on us to give them food in order to eat. We are afraid because one day the house they are living in could collapse,” said Chazile.
The founder of the Ibandla Lase Mthini Evangelical Movement, Bishop Tshepo Machaea, said after he had heard about this problem, he sent some of the members of his congregation to check the situation.
He said they would assist where possible because this is one of the missions of his church to take care of the less fortunate people.
“As the church, we know that we have a responsibility to ensure that we assist people who are less fortunate. As the church, it is our duty to also do what we can in order to bring smiles to others. We can assure you that the church would try by all means to assist and we are happy that the Department of Human Settlement had promised to build a shelter for this family,” said Machaea.
He added that they would supply this family with groceries and ensure that they have a proper place to put them. Noziqhamo Pezisa, from the local ward committee, said they were aware of this situation.
She said one of the major problems was that the construction company that was supposed to build houses in that area left, leaving people with slabs only.
“Now we were informed by the Nyandeni Local Municipality that this project would continue and this family is one of the families who would receive a house,” she said.
She also confirmed that they had managed to get a birth certificate for him and now it would be easy for them to get an ID for him.
