Rains a curse to mkhulu living in shack
PIGG’S PEAK – A 73-yearold man of Mavula in Mayiwane is at times forced to ‘sleep on his feet’ as his dilapidated shack is now a health hazard.
Inkhundla
The elderly man, Makhasane Vilakati, is a widower after his wife passed away a few years ago. He has a son, who is also unemployed.
The elderly man lives in abject poverty and has a shack which is in a seriously dilapidated state. According to community members in the area, due to the state of the shack made of corrugated iron sheets, the inside of the structure is always wet on rainy days.
Water is said to flow just right into the structure due to the multiple holes of the corrugated iron sheets.
Sleeps
The bed on which he sleeps is also extensively worn out. On rainy days, such as recently when the country experienced torrential rainfall, it became impossible for Vilakati to sleep on the bed as it became soaked as a result of water leaking into the shack.
Further, community members informed this publication that the place was infested with snakes and other reptiles, which would easily slither into the shack at anytime of the day or night.
As such, the elderly man would then be compelled to either sleep with the reptiles in the shack or just stand with the hope that they slither away.
In an interview with this publication, Vilakati confirmed that at times he was forced to sleep while on his feet to avoid snakebites, as the reptiles regularly slithered into his shack.
“I really need help and request the nation to assist me where they can. I also plead with Her Majesty the Queen Mother to assist me as she usually does with other underprivileged elderly people through her charity organisation, Philani Maswati,” pleaded Vilakati.
He added that his wish was to get assistance to complete his house, which he had already started building through the help of his son who lost his job a while ago.
“I am forced to sleep in this dilapidated shack where I am exposed to rainfall and dangerous animals such as snakes,” he said.
Vilakati said he had been living through donations from the Indlovukazi charity organisation, but all was used up and he had nothing now.
Meanwhile, this publication reported, about two weeks ago, that as the rainfall continued across the country, more houses were likely to collapse. This was noted by people who live in stick-and-mud houses. These include communities known as Mangwaneni around the country and also rural communities. Some of the houses around Mangwaneni in Pigg’s Peak, Malkerns and Big Bend are already said to be collapsing. A man, who is a resident of Mangwaneni in Big Bend, said his house was already falling.
He said he had already abandoned it as he did not want his family to be injured.