It says that nine families from Mzomusha, KwaBester, Nanda have spoken to government agencies until their saliva dries up, about the ravine that is suddenly filled with water, covering their houses when there is heavy rain.
These families said this yesterday, at the time It is a country visited the area, following the heavy downpour on Friday and Saturday.
There are seven houses that are trapped under water in this area, of which there are a few that come out of the roof while others do not even come out of the waist. There are also two others, which are no longer protected from the water, the families sitting in the middle are trapped as the water is still blocking the road.
These families who have become homeless, told this newspaper that they have not received any help from the government since Friday.
It also expressed that it is worried that there is a possibility that there are people trapped under the water as the local councilor and the Municipality of Thekwini, continue to travel far from the scene.
“We are afraid that there are some people we don’t see, who were drinking (alcohol) when the heavy rain hit. Until now we don’t see them because we know each other as there aren’t many of them. We can’t find them on the phones either. We have a sad thought that they are probably still trapped in the water,” said Mrs. Fikile Mahlangu.
He went on to say that he and his family went out with only what they were wearing, being woken up by another relative, who had seen that the water was coming strong.
He pointed out that the thing that causes them to suffer is that their homes are near a ravine where the water spills down through the passages of the houses built on two sides separated by the ravine.
“Every time there is that water, it fills our houses. This is not the first time we have faced this problem, it has been going on for years,” he said.
He said there are waiting houses that have been promised to move into in Tafuleni, Nanda. He pointed out that every time they have to be transported there, the councilor just reports the issue.
“On Wednesday, we had to move our goods, and there she complained that people are not perfect. If they had moved us, all this damage would not have happened to us,” said Mrs. Mahlangu.
He complained that when they have to vote, politicians go from house to house, persuading them to vote, when they are in trouble like this, they go far.
Another resident, Mr. Lungani Mdluli, said that what they have been complaining about is the installation of large pipes that will be able to withstand the volume of water that they suffer every time it rains.
“If they listen to us and install the pipes we are saying, there would be no problem. If the water enters the pipe, it will go out on the other side of the road where there are no houses,” said Mdluli.
The councilor of the area, Mr. Themba Mnguni, responded, saying that the affected people also had a lack of cooperation with government agencies.
“The issue is old, it started even before I was a councillor. Seeing that it is common for the same problem to happen, I called all government agencies and urged them to intervene,” said Mnguni.
He said they finally went to talk to the King of Qadis, Mr. Mqoqi Ngcobo, who gave them land to build temporary houses in Tafuleni.
“When they had to move into them, they complained that they have small rooms (4 rooms), but their houses are big (6 rooms),” said Mnguni, who said that even last time when it was planned that they would be relocated, only three families were there, others were told that they were not there.
“It is also difficult to fix this kind of situation. Yesterday (Saturday) I tried to talk to them but I gave up, they attacked my driver and beat him. However, we will not give up, we will continue to talk to them,” said Mnguni who said that he is in the process of calling another meeting to discuss the issue. He said there is an ongoing project to try to look into the issue of the gorge as well as the water pipes in this area.
Nwhen the team of this newspaper arrived at the scene of the incident, they met with Mrs. Sibongile Khawula, an EFF Member of Parliament who was returning for the second time, bringing a donation of food to those affected.
He said he saw the damage when he was driving by on Saturday, he stopped, which is where he found out more about the situation.
“The sad thing is that when we contact the councillor, he tells us that people should not be here anymore. The one that says they should go there, there is no electricity or water,” said Mrs Khawula.
He said the strange thing is that the community is their boss.
“Why don’t they come to people if they have a problem like I did?” he asked like this.
He said they asked on Saturday for a municipal truck to come to absorb all the water, so they could go in and see if there are no people trapped in the houses.