Mayors visit homes battered by rain, snow in KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal families whose homes were battered by heavy rains and snow are now forced to squat together while scrambling to rebuild their lives.

Hlengiwe Mhlongo, 38, from a remote Thokoza village, outside Greytown, said their homes had been destroyed in the disaster.

“We can’t do anything now because the walls of my dwelling have come down. I am unemployed and we rely on government grants,” said Mhlongo.

She shares the three-bedroom mud home with 11 other family members including children who are scattered around the homestead, some wearing torn clothes with faces caked with dust.

Mhlongo is among 20 families visited by uMgungundlovu mayor Mzi Zuma, Mpofana mayor Maureen Magubane and the Red Cross.

Mhlongo pleaded with the public to help them rebuild their home.

“The house has weathered so many storms and a fire. We lack and we solely depend on grants,” she said.

Another person who suffered the same fate was Makhiseni Zulu, 21, whose house was damaged on Thursday. Zulu shares the house with his mother and brother, 13.

Among the ruins of their one-bedroom house lie unused water bottles, an old log stove and two suitcases which the family use to store their belongings.

“We have lost some of the belongings due to rain. What we would need is to perhaps get jobs ... it’s very difficult to survive because my mom is without work. The cost of living is high because we need to get to town to purchase food. We need about R68,” said Zulu.

Twenty families whose homes were battered by the heavy rains accompanied by snow have been thrown a life line by the Red Cross.

Red Cross KwaZulu-Natal manager Siyabonga Hlatshwayo said their relief efforts were continuing after the inclement weekend weather which disrupted traffic along the main routes in the province.

“At the weekend we went around distributing soup to motorists stranded on the N3 highway,” said Hlatshwayo.

He said the plan was to extend relief to uThukela which was badly affected.

“Our team is busy making assessments,” said Hlatshwayo.

Amajuba Livestock Farmer's Association chairperson Sibongile Nkosi said the snow had left a devastating trail in the district. She said badly affected local municipalities included Newcastle, Dannhauser and Utrecht.

“Those farmers affected are all subsistence farmers who do not have deep pockets to bounce back,” said Nkosi.

She said they are still trying to quantify the extent of the damage and once the numbers are finalised they will seek the intervention of the provincial government.

Zuma said after making an assessment, he had found that some homes were partially damaged while others were destroyed in the three municipalities under uMgungundlovu.

“Most of the houses are mud dwellings. The same could be said with the roads which are not in a good condition. I have also received reports of the deaths of cattle. On three farms, for instance, there were as many as 10 cattle that died,” said Zuma.

Zuma was concerned that some members of the public had failed to heed warnings issued by authorities and weather services.

“We were disappointed that the N3 had seen large volumes of vehicles despite warnings issued by the authorities.”

He said the warnings were made to eliminate the risks that could result in the loss of life and property.

“What we want is to work together so that we do not face the challenges.”

Mooi River farmer Tony le Roux said the bad weather had plunged more than 30 farms along the N3 corridor into darkness.

Among those affected were dairy and livestock farmers who were without power for two-and-a half days.

“It's slowly coming back on now. We were fortunate that the farmers located in the inner parts were hardly affected,” said Le Roux.

Meanwhile, Alfred Duma municipality spokesperson Thabisile Mkhize said the power outages had increased due to the inclement weather. She said since Saturday, teams from technical services and infrastructure were on the ground working tirelessly to investigate and resolve faults reported.

Mkhize said the municipality was trying to normalise the electricity supply to affected areas.

“The municipality is not in a position to indicate when these faults will be fixed. We are urging community members to remain patient as the matter is being attended to,” said Mkhize.

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