Ms Joyce Ndou is a 45-year-old single parent who stays at Tanda village. During weekends, when she is not working, she spends most of her time collecting wood in the nearby bushes.
This is very risky because the local bushes are infested with poisonous snakes and scorpions that can injure or kill. Good news is that Ndou's life and those of her neighbours will soon change as they will be able to switch on electricity in their houses for the first time at the end of August.
This comes after the Musina Municipality kicked off with the electrification of 665 households in four villages through the Integrated National Electrification Programme Grant in the Eskom licenced area. The benefitting villages are Malale (154 households), Masisi (44 households), Tanda (138 households) and Tshikhudini (329 households).
Ndou, who works as a security officer, said her three children would be able to study with ease when she finally switched on the electricity at the end of August. "My kids use candles to study and it is very expensive to have them on a daily basis. I hope the connections will improve the performance of my children at school, because they will have more time to study without thinking of the shortage of candles."
She added that she was very happy that she would no longer be forced to go to the bush to fetch firewood "as I will be able to use a stove to prepare a meal. Indeed, life will be easy when we start using electricity soon."
She thanked Musina Municipality for bringing a better life to her village. Municipal spokesperson Mr Wilson Dzebu said the municipality was working tirelessly to improve the lives of the local communities. "This is a culmination of the commitments by Mayor Mihloti Muhlope during her budget speech in June that the municipality will continue to deliver efficient services to its citizens," said Dzebu.