Ngangelizwe Township local, Nomfanelo Dalindyebo, has taken it upon herself to mobilise local businesses, especially hardware stores, to donate building materials to build a decent house for the destitute Ngalo family, currently living in a dilapidated house at Xhosana Street in the same township.
Wheelchair-bound Zukiswa Ngalo and her family grabbed news headlines after Mthatha Express published an article highlighting their poor living conditions last year.
Eastern Cape Human Settlements MEC, Nonceba Kontsiwe, subsequently visited the family on August 3, last year and issued a directive that a temporary shelter be immediately provided for the family, while a process of identifying a piece of land to build them a permanent shelter ensued.
Despite Kontsiwe’s directive, no temporary shelter has been provided by government and the family still lives in the dilapidated house to this day.
“I came across the family’s dire situation sometime late last year when visiting the homestead to enquire about a container in the yard I wanted to use for business purposes.
“I was moved by seeing a wheelchair-bound mother and her children living in such poor and unhealthy conditions,” said Dalindyebo.
Dalindyebo then organised a two-day pop-up car wash in December last year with the aim of raising funds to build the family a decent shelter but the fund-raiser was not successful in raising a substantial amount of money to help the Ngalo family.
She then approached local businesses to help donate building materials towards building a house for the family.
She says many hardware stores in Mthatha have shown an interest in contributing towards her cause and are now targeting March 2022 to have gathered enough material to start building the family a decent house.
