Nocingile Gwavuma (70) of Futye Location, outside Elliotdale, has used the visit by King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality council speaker, Councillor Nomamfengu Siyo-Sokutu, to plead with her to help secure the family a decent house.
Gwavuma, her two daughters and two grandchildren, currently share a tiny one-roomed flat after the second house, a grass thatched roof rondavel, mysteriously burnt down with all their belongings, including their clothes, last month.
Siyo-Sokutu visited the family on June 22, as part of her outreach programme she led in Futye Location, which falls under Ward 21 of the KSD Local Municipality.
A visibly emotional Gwavuma pleaded with Siyo-Sokutu to, at least, help with a temporary shelter, as immediate relief, while they wait for government to build them a permanent structure.
“My plea to government is to help in whatever way they can. But my immediate need is a decent house, as we currently share the remaining single-room flat. Our furniture, groceries, school uniforms for the grandchildren, clothes, as well as my chickens, all burnt in the fire that engulfed the rondavel,” Gwavuma said.
She further said she was not in a financial position to build herself the house she was asking for from government, as her family survives on her old-age pension grant and child support grant of her two grandchildren.
KSD Ward 21 Councillor, Siphosandile Mshunqane, said social workers and officials from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) were alerted to and subsequently visited the family, following their ordeal.
Mshunqane added that SASSA has already assisted with new school uniforms for the grandchildren.
Siyo-Sokutu also donated groceries and a new blanket to Gwavuma during her visit to the family.
“What I will immediately do is to submit a report to the human settlements directorate within our municipality, so that the process of securing the family a decent house immediately unfolds. We will also approach the OR Tambo District Municipality, which really assists us in the provision of temporary shelters, to ensure that this family’s situation is speedily attended to, and temporary shelter is provided,” said Siyo-Sokutu.
Sokutu conceded that the family had been failed by government, as their living conditions and their economic situation long needed government intervention, even before the fire incident that destroyed their rondavel.
