BUNGENI – When the late Mr Samuel Chauke cut the throat of his wife, Khubani Emily Chauke, before hanging himself from a nearby tree at Bungeni Village in October 2001, he left his five children devastated by poverty, staying in a single room hovel.

Today, with the aid of the Makhado Municipality, the children own a four-roomed house.

After realising that the one-roomed house in which Tsakani (17), Mkateko (15), Millicent (7) and Johannes Chauke (4) lived was dilapidated, ward 15’s Cllr Joseph Rikhotso alerted the municipality to the situation faced by the youngsters. “To indicate that this government is for the people, the mayor agreed that an RDP house must be built for the destitute orphans as a matter of urgency,” he said.

The mayor of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr RS Nkuzana, officially launched the commencement of the building on April 7, 2004. One of the orphans’ neighbours, Mr Austin Ntsani, told Mirror that, after seeing that the five orphans were sleeping on wet floors when it rained, “I took a bold decision of accommodating them until the completion of their four-roomed house.” The house was built by the Makhado Municipality and the private sector and has already been electrified.

According to Cllr Rikhotso, the children are receiving foster grants and food parcels from the Welfare Department. During the official opening of the house, two double beds, one big refrigerator and a sofa, as promised by the mayor, had already been delivered to the children’s house. The house is equal to the Peoples House Project (PHP), but its style makes it different from the PHP and RDP houses.

The eldest of the orphans, Tsakani, said he was running short of words “to express our happiness, but in brief this clearly indicates that the municipality cares about its people. It relieved us when we were burdened and I hope they are not going to do this only to us.” Tsakani said that, from now onwards, they would focus on their studies in order to make a life for themselves.