Woman to stay at ‘dangerous’ shack
A DISABLED woman is refusing to leave her shack which has been built on an underground cable that is cutting supply to 20 neighbouring RDP homes.
Frail Duncan Village resident, Nonkosazana Qalekisa, says she won’t move until President Jacob Zuma lives up to an alleged promise he had made of a new home for her during an electioneering campaign.
Qalekisa, who was disabled in a car accident earlier this year and suffers from severe arthritis, said she had been living in the shack since 1994.
“I have always seen the danger sign there, but I didn’t know what it meant really, nor did we know there was electricity running underground, so it seemed safe to build here.
“In July, when President Jacob Zuma was campaigning, he came inside this very shack and promised me I would get an RDP house, and former Buffalo City mayor Alfred Mtsi and ward councillor Ayanda Mapisa assured him they would fulfil his promise,” she said yesterday.
However, Qalekisa said residents and the municipality were urging her to dismantle her shack and build one elsewhere to allow electricians to fix the faulty underground cable.
“I am not going to leave this shack for another shack,” she said.
Ward 8 councillor, Ayanda Mapisa, confirmed that Zuma had visited Qalekisa but said Zuma had never promised her a house.
“There was no mention of a house, but rather a motorised wheelchair to make life easier for her,” Mapisa said.
“However, we are working towards getting her a temporary structure while the housing process is under way, but she needs to move so that the more than 20 houses without electricity can be electrified.”
A resident from Siwisa Street, Banele Mgangxela, said residents had been without electricity for nearly three months.
“This has been a problem for a while now and it seems that the only solution is for Sista [Qalekisa] to move and allow electricians to fix the fault.
“We have raised funds and collected building material from the frustrated residents, offering to build Sista a comfortable shack not far from where she is staying, but away from the substation. But when we were about to buy zinc for her roofing she suddenly said she would not move.”
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi said: “The illegally built house was built on top of a supply cable within a servitude. The cable faulted and the fault location was inside the shack.
“It is suspected that the occupant of the shack had illegally tapped into our supply cable and this was the reason for the fault. This was apparently witnessed by our district engineer.”