Durban — A disabled woman from Lamontville, south of Durban, has appealed to the head of eThekwini human settlement and infrastructure, deputy mayor Philani Mavundla, to urgently assist her with a house suitable for her needs.
Ntombizethu Ndlovu, who is unable to walk because of her numb legs, has been living with her niece for seven years in a transit camp tin house, waiting to be relocated to a new house that was promised to her by the municipality when they were removed from their Chris Hani informal settlements in 2015. They were moved to make way for the new Lamontville houses.
She told the Daily News that after surviving the deadly April floods in which her house was nearly washed away while she was sleeping, she felt a need to make an urgent appeal specifically to the deputy mayor, who she had been told was also responsible for housing in the municipality.
“I have a problem which I feel the mayor or deputy mayor must come and see.
“My house is on the edge and can collapse with me inside since I would not be able to run away because of my condition. I need urgent help before heavy rains come back,” pleaded Ndlovu.
She said during the recent floods there was a mudslide that nearly collapsed the house, adding that she feared that her house might not survive the next heavy rains.
“I fear that this house might bury me alive if I do not receive assistance urgently,” Ndlovu said.
She said she and other families were removed from Chris Hani informal settlement in the KwaGijima section in Lamontville and were told they were making way for decent houses to be built and some of them would be relocated to housing projects such as Cornubia.
She said now it seemed as if everyone had forgotten about them.
Other residents who spoke to the Daily News on condition of anonymity for fear of being victimised said they also wanted the top city officials to come and explain who was occupying the houses that had been reserved for them in Cornubia, saying they believed some people were fraudulently allocated their houses.
“These camps are dumping sites now. People were removed from their shacks which were better built than these tin houses, but we have realised the intention was not to build us decent houses but to dump us here,” said another resident.
During the visit, the Daily News team saw the transit camp condition. Most of the houses were dilapidated. The concrete slabs on which the houses were built were damaged by the floods and most of the houses were on the edge.
The camps were also built on a steep hill overlooking the uMlazi river.
Mavundla promised to visit Ndlovu to examine the conditions she had been subjected to, adding that he would make plans to help her get out of the dangerous situation she lived in.
Daily News