City’s inhumane rule

DEAR Anda Ntsodo, DA councillor.

I am cc-ing in the Cape Times. To note: I sent this e-mail to you and offered you right of reply, which you did not reply to.

I am connected to the Tywala family in Khayelitsha – you will remember that Nyameka Tywala’s three grandchildren were burnt to death in a shack fire. Nyameka herself is in hospital, badly burnt.

I have, as you have, looked the mothers of the three children who burnt to death in the eye, hugged them and told them how very, very sorry I was. How I would do what I could for them.

I read in the newspaper and heard from the family that what you told them was that the city council would help, but only if the children were buried in Cape Town.

I want to know more about this utterly degrading and absurd “rule”. It seems to me a mean spirited and dehumanising policy to offer to help and then snatch it away by only helping if they bury the dead where the city council tells them to.

It seems difficult to imagine any party other than the DA being so blind to people’s needs as to come up with something like this.

We have managed to secure funding for the funeral through the generous intervention of Club Cares (affiliated to Club Travel). They will also transport the family to their ancestral home in the Eastern Cape. Here they will bury their three children, without any help from the city council. We have also managed to raise around R 20 000 to help the family rebuild after the funeral. Again, without any help from the city council.

If you or anyone reading this would like to make contributions to the family, Nyameka’s sister Linda is handling cash donations. The details are: Linda Makweni, Capitec Bank Branch code: 47001000 Account Number: 1304 1225 63 Stuart Jones Claremont