ELIM – They will no longer spend sleepless nights on wet floors when it rains, enduring unpleasant cold. Most importantly, they are now entitled to privacy from their children in their new four-roomed solid houses, built for them by their employer.

On Saturday, September 18, there was an official handing over of four-roomed houses to Mrs Lettie Maluleke, Mrs Riradzu Rambau Hlungwane, Mrs Ntaveni Baloyi, Genny Nematshema and Mrs Lilly Dorothy Ambraal of Elim by Messrs Poog and Carl Henning of Mununzwu Newco. These five beneficiaries are part of the land claimants of Moddervlei and also employees at the farm.

While addressing the guests in Xitsonga, Mr Poog Henning said: “We would fail in our endeavour if we distanced ourselves from the members of the community, as your support is our strength.”

In expressing their happiness after the Henning family built them solid houses free of cost, Mrs Lettie Maluleke said that she was staying with her six children in a shack erected by Mr Henning after her house had collapsed in 2000. She was using the one-roomed shack as a kitchen and a bedroom. “I don’t know how to express my happiness, Mr Henning.”

With tears of joy flowing, Mrs Riradzu Rambau told Mirror how painful it was when she spent sleepless nights on wet floors with her children during the floods in 2000, adding that, in the early hours of the morning, the house collapsed.

In conclusion, Mr Poog Henning said that his intention is to build 100 houses for needy people who are still staying in terrifyingly bad conditions around the Elim area.