Cape Town - The family of murdered three-year-old Courtney Pieters from Elsies River have finally moved into the new home promised to them by President Jacob Zuma.
Courtney’s parents, Aaron Fourie and Juanita Pieters, and siblings Adrian, 7, and Mikayla, 15, moved to their RDP home in Delft last Thursday and say they are enjoying the “peace and quiet”.
Juanita was recently discharged from the Brooklyn Chest Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment for tuberculosis on the brain.
Healing
On Wednesday, she said the new house is a chance for them to start over.
“It is quiet here. We can breathe and we can start healing,” the mom said.
“I have been very sick and can’t walk anywhere without getting tired. It’s been a rough few months, which started with losing my baby [Courtney].
“I became ill after that and now there is TB on my brain. I feel really helpless sometimes, because I am so tired all the time, but I remind myself that we are blessed with a new beginning and I am very grateful.”
PROMISE: During a visit to grieving family, President Jacob Zuma promised them a house.
Donated
The president had pledged the house, through the Zuma Foundation, and donated R10 000 to grieving family on 18 May.
The two-bedroom home is painted a pretty pink on the outside, but inside the walls and the floor are still bare.
The family have no furniture, except their beds.
In the lounge, there are no chairs, just pictures and posters of Courtney stacked against the wall.
Adrian and Mikayla looked cheerful as they breezed up and down the stairs of their double-storey home.
Juanita, 42, says: “Although we have nothing, we are
better off here where no one is blaming me for Courtney’s death.”
NEAT AND TIDY: The front of the Pieters' new house in Delft
Courtney disappeared from her home on Friday, 4 May, and was found eight days later, buried in a shallow grave close to Bofors Circle, Epping Industria, less than 500m from her home.
Police arrested the family’s boarder, Mortimer Saunders, 40.
On Friday, Saunders, who lived with the family in Pluto Street, Salberau, will appear in the Western Cape High Court for his second pre-trial hearing.
Saunders had helped the family search for Courtney, and had been friends with Aaron and Juanita for 20 years.
Juanita is preparing herself to go to court, and hopes she does not have a relapse.
“It’s still hard, but I want justice for my Courtney, so I will be there,” says Juanita.