DPM, friends build gogo’s house in 20 days
MBABANE – An elderly woman, who has been living under harsh conditions inside a shack constructed with grass and logs, will enjoy a peaceful sleep in a decent house, courtesy of the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Thuli Dladla, and friends.
This comes after the DPM handed over a two-bedroom house to the 90-year-old Gogo Beauty Mdadane Masuku, of Msuzaneni in Lavumisa, yesterday.
In an interview with Dladla after the handover, she said the house was constructed within 20 days and was well ventilated with a pit-latrine toilet and make-shift kitchen. She said: “Never undermine the fact that God sees everything, including our struggles then responds in His own way.”
Dladla said she got to learn about Gogo Masuku’s plight through their WhatsApp group as a Motsa family, where one family member mentioned the plight of the elderly woman. She said as part of the humanitarian work she did in her personal capacity, they collected clothes and visited Masuku in January, where they realised the dilapidated state of her house.
This, she said, was when they promised to construct her a better house. “During rainy days everything inside would get soaked in the rainwater and sometimes, would be forced to stand all night due to the fact that her house was letting in water,” she explained.
Dladla said the conditions the elderly woman lived in were very painful. In addition to the house, the DPM said they were able to donate groceries including maize-meal (25kg), rice (70kg), solar radio, solar lights, vegetable oil, beans, bread, sleeping mattress, blanket, pots and utensils among other things.
Mayibongwe Shabangu, who is Masuku’s great grand-child said he had no words to express his joy in what Dladla and her friends had done for the family.
Shabangu stated that it was decades since they had been living in such harsh conditions, adding that his parents passed away and he was raised by the elderly woman. He said Dladla had removed the burden on his shoulders, as he was also in a drive to search for a job in order to construct a decent house for her.
Shabangu said she had called the DPM trying to express his gratitude, as he was not present when the house was handed over. He said the situation back home haunted him wherever he was, and wished that God may bless Dladla for the work she had done for his family.