New home for mom who lost everything
AFTER months of grief and loss, Maggie Mashiloane finally received some comfort yesterday when she was presented with the keys to a brand-new house by Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Lebogang Maile.
Mashiloane’s life story touched many South Africans after she lost four children and their nanny in a horrific fire last year. She had also lost her husband to Covid-19. Her old house was in Pretoria West but she will now settle with her family at her new Soshanguve home.
Maile presented Mashiloane, who was accompanied by her surviving son, with the keys to the house yesterday. This was a follow-up to the promise the Gauteng government made to assist Mashiloane.
She told The Star that she was humbled by the support she had received and that God was her hope for surviving her traumatic experience.
“I have people who are supporting me but my son is the reason I am still strong. I have to be there for him.”
Mashiloane is unemployed and said she was staying with relatives while she was trying to put her life together.
“All I need is a job. I had my own small business before the fire, doing catering, but everything that has happened took its toll on me,” she said.
Mashiloane said she mourned for her children but that the new house offered her hope. She was due to move in at the end of the month.
Maile said it was thanks to a partnership with the private sector that Mashiloane could be given a new home. He said he was touched by the journey of pain that she and her family had experienced.