Municipality hands over RDP house to ill pensioner
"I knew we had to do something to help her before God calls her to heaven" — Mayor
There were tears of joy after the Randfontein Local Municipality handed a RDP house to bedridden pensioner Mabel Banda, 79, from Mohlakeng.
What is considered a great act of kindness from the municipality brought jubilation for a seriously ill woman who now can say she owns a house of her own for the first time.
In an interview with the herald Banda expressed her joy and thanked the Randfontein Local Municipality.
According to her she has been staying with her eldest daughter for the past few years. They have been renting rooms in people’s backyards, all while she was bedridden.
The Randfontein Local Municipality Executive Mayor Sylvia Thebenare says they have decided to hand over the house to Banda as part of their initiative of giving back to the community of Randfontein and its surrounding areas.
“We first heard of Banda’s struggle during one of our door-to-door campaigns in the area and I was moved by her story. I knew we had to do something to help her and her family. We felt it was our duty to give her a home before God calls her to heaven,” says Thebenare.
“Although service delivery doesn’t reach everybody at the same time, this is proof that the municipality is hard at work,” Thebenare adds.
According to Banda’s daughter, Magdeline Banda, her entire family was thrilled about this.
“I cannot thank God and the Randfontein Local Municipality enough for what they have done for us. They have restored pride in our family and gave us something we never thought we could have – a house,” she says.
Although it has been many years since their struggle, the family now has a fully furnished two-bedroom house with a spacious lounge, kitchen and a bathroom.
The ill Banda wanted to hold her own house keys the entire time while in bed.
