Limpopo floods: Families waiting since December for help

Families in Madobi village in Limpopo are still waiting for help from the Collins Chabane municipality after 25 RDP houses were damaged by heavy rain and floods on 28 December 2021.

One resident Eias Mapangula (pictured in the image above) was injured when bricks fell on her leg. She now walks with the aid of a frame.

Limpopo floods

Six families destitute

About six families, including Mapangula’s, were given tents last week but the municipality has not yet supplied any material for rebuilding the houses.

Hitekani Magwedze, the spokesperson for the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, said the local municipality had compiled a list and the department was busy assessing the damage.

The department promised to build permanent structures but did not give a time frame.

‘Trapped under falling bricks’

Mapangula said the roof had blown off her house “around 7pm”; her two children were also in the house. She explains:

“The roof was blown off; the walls collapsed. My children escaped with minor injuries but I was trapped inside under falling bricks”.

A member of the community immediately volunteered to rush Mapangula to Elim hospital, about 25km from the village.

Temporary shacks not a solution

Mapangula’s beds, blankets, wardrobe and refrigerator were all damaged. Her children built a small shack out of the blown-off roof sheets.

The shack is their temporary kitchen while they are staying in a rondavel, waiting for repairs to their house.

“I cannot afford to rebuild the RDP house since I live off an old-age pension,” said Mapangula.

Community leader Thomas Mkhacwa said most families could not afford to rebuild. The roof of his own house was broken, and when it rains he and his family sleep in a shack he erected.

Originally published by Bernard Chiguvare on GroundUp. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.