A home for the Marhumekes at last

The Marhumekes seemed to be the happiest family in Mambedi, near Elim, after the department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) finally completed their house a fortnight ago.

The family's plight was first published in Limpopo Mirror some two years ago, after their makeshift abode was blown apart by a rainstorm in October 2012.

The beneficiary, Ms Maria Marhumeke, said that she was relieved that, even though the family had suffered displacement and homelessness for two years, a house was finally built for them. “I want to thank Coghsta, the local Sanco and the Limpopo Mirror for publishing our plight,” she said.

The local Sanco branch reported the family's case to the local ward committee just after their abode was destroyed by the rainstorm, so that the committee could alert Ward 28's Cllr Alpheus Mmbadi. Mmbadi, however, said that he hadn't received any report from the ward committee or local Sanco each time that Limpopo Mirror contacted him for comment.

On Friday, Maria was furious when Limpopo Mirror visited the family. “[Cllr] Mmbadi came here last week and told us that he was the one who built this house for us,” she said. “He posed in front our house and his friend took some pictures of him, using his cellphone. He's taking us for granted because we are not educated. We are not happy with him.”

The local Sanco branch's chairperson, Ms Maria Ndekeni, who is also the Marhumekes' neighbour, said that politicians must stop using poor people like the Marhumekes as stepping stones to higher positions.

“If he's telling the Marhumekes that he built them a house, he's totally wrong,” she said. “Maria does not have an ID book and her four children do not have birth certificates either. All these children are not on the child grant's payroll. We are using money from our own pockets to transport Maria to and from Home Affairs in Makhado to apply for her ID book and her children's birth certificates, the kind of job which Mmbadi should have been doing.”

When contacted for comment, Cllr Mmbadi said he didn't wish to comment. “The municipality has got a spokesperson,” he said.

News - Date: 21 August 2014

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.

Email: [email protected]