Victims of fire gets RDP house

Two siblings, Ms Sarah Mbedzi (97) and Mr David Mashige (73), were left heartbroken and destitute when their five-room house was reduced to ashes after a mysterious fire some four years ago.

Mashige and Mbedzi shared a separate doorless garage in their yard, but it had several holes in the front, so it could not keep the cold out in winter and the rains in summer. They got some old blanket from sympathetic fellow villagers, but they had been struggling to put together a new shelter.

A couple of months ago, Cllr Mavhimbi Mashamba of Ward 23 made sure that the siblings' plight was addressed by enlisting them in the relief-after-disaster RDP houses allocation. Their RDP house was recently completed, and the beneficiaries are glad that they now have a roof to cover their heads.

“We are happy for what our government has done for us,” said Mbedzi. “They restored our dignity in a way that we didn't expect because we had lived in a disorganised garage. We still do not have beds, a table and pots since it was all reduced to ashes. Even though we get social grants, it all goes to food and medication.”

Mashamba extended heartfelt gratitude to the Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs for a social contribution to the community by making sure that they championed the interests of those who could not afford to build houses for themselves. “I am again appealing to the community and businesspeople to assist these two elderly in any way they can, so that they get to a stage where they do not have to use one pot to cook both pap and relish,” he said.

Date:07 July 2018

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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