Orphans without care
The grandmother of three Ethembeni teenagers who recently lost their mother says she would rather see the young family adopted by social workers than take care of them herself.
The teenagers’ mother, Phumeza Daweti (38) died in Settler’s hospital on Thursday last week after giving birth to a still born baby. Daweti’s mother, Nompumelelo, says she would never be able to look after her late daughter’s children because she has tried in the past but they are uncontrollable.
Last week Grocott’s Mail reported that an 18-yearold man is struggling to feed his two young siblings – the three grandchildren in question - following the untimely death of their mother. Neighbours told Grocott’s Mail that the young family has resorted to demeaning ways of feeding themselves. The eldest, Izanaye Pati (18), has been forced to fend for the young family.
The Department of Social Development’s district spokesman Mzukisi Matinise last week said the department would send social workers to assess the young family’s situation.
They were considering making Pati the two children’s foster parent, since he is 18, but the department was also considering the option of looking for a relative who would play that role if possible.
It seemed there was hope in sight when it was discovered that their grandmother was in Extension 7, but that hope soon faded when Nompumelelo and her daughter revealed that they wouldn’t even consider taking the young family in.
Speaking to Grocott’s Mail in her Extension 7 home, Nompumelelo said the one thing she would love to happen is for social workers to take the young children and place them in their programmes. “I wish they [social workers] could take them to a place of safety and put them through school because I can’t handle these children because they don’t want to listen,” she said. Nompumelelo says Izanaye is particularly hard to manage because he is extremely rude and the young ones are very close to him.
Izanaye’s two younger siblings, who cannot be named as they are minors, are currently living between their grandmother’s home and Izanaye’s Ethembeni’s house, while the family prepares to bury Phumeza.
Nompumelelo says all she can manage at this stage is to do her best to give her late daughter a dignified funeral.
“We are struggling to raise money to prepare for her funeral. It’s really hard, we would like to bury her as soon as possible, but we just don’t have the money,” she said.
When Grocott’s Mail asked the younger siblings, aged nine and 13 if they would like to stay with their grandmother, they weren’t
Photo: Anele Mjekula forthcoming. However, Izanaye made it very clear that he would never live with his grandmother.
anele@grocotts.co.za