Limpopo Gogo gets new home for her family

A Limpopo family of 16, which shared a dilapidated two-roomed house for decades, has been given a brand-new eight-roomed, furnished house in celebration of Women’s Month.

The house was a token of appreciation to the family’s matriarch, who raised her children alone after her husband abandoned them a decade ago.

Anna Masenya, 62, used their old two-roomed house as a kitchen, a dining room, a bedroom and a bathroom.

“Life has never been easy since my husband left me. I am unemployed and I depend solely on child support grant for survival.

“None of my children is working and neither am I.

“With the money I get from the department of social development, I feed 16 mouths every day, make sure they bath and take them to school,” said Masenya during the handing-over ceremony at Masehlaneng village, outside Mahwelereng in Mokopane last Saturday.

“Thanks to the women in Limpopo and mayor for Mogalakwena municipality Andrina Matsemela for changing my life for the better,” she said with tears of joy sliding down her cheeks. “This is the best present any woman could ever wish for.”

The new house consists of four bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a study and a bathroom.

Matsemela, the women from Mokopane and the leadership of the Sefakaole branch of the ANC learnt about Masenya during a Thuma Mina campaign weeks before the May 8 polls.

Matsemela said: “I had to … visit the family. When I got here, Masenya and her children were crammed in a two-roomed house with no space to put a single chair to sit. I then asked for a toilet and they showed me next door.

“We started lobbying for donations. Fortunately, the response was good and quick, as some good Samaritans opened their hearts and their wallets.”

She said her municipality was currently assisting Masenya to apply for an old-age grant. The municipality will further assist the family to get food parcels.

“We believe this house will restore the dignity of this family. We also believe this house will produce doctors, lawyers, journalists, architects, astronomers, nurses, police officers and land surveyors,” added Matsemela.

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