Children need help after KZN storm

Women and their children have been living in a community hall in Vaalbank Village since a storm destroyed their homes on 26 and 27 December. Photos: Bongane Motaung

Northern KwaZulu-Natal families left homeless by a thunderstorm after Christmas are living in a community hall with no prospects of having their houses rebuilt.

Their children have been attending school in casual clothes or dirty uniforms, because the ones they had bought were destroyed in the storms on 26 and 27 December.

Almost 500 people were impacted by the storm, one person died, and two people were injured, said provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesperson Senzelwa Mzila.

12 families were left homeless, said Mzila.

Nine of these families are being housed in the Vaalbank Village community hall, according to Emadlangeni mayor Mzwandile Buthelezi. Men have been offered accommodation in a local church to provide the women with privacy because there are no separate rooms for changing.

The cash-strapped municipality has no disaster relief funds to help the families build new houses, said Buthelezi.

Nokuthula Gabela said her four children and five others stay at the community hall. Neighbours donated four sets of uniforms.

“They wear them for a week without changing because we cannot wash every day, soap is expensive,” said Gabela.

There are no showers, so families wash using large basins.

Phindile said, “We cannot afford to buy new uniforms because we are not working.”

Provincial SASSA spokesperson Mbizeni Mdlalose said the agency issued food vouchers to 19 families, worth a total of R44,080, and provided daily hot meals, costing R39,235, to severely affected families.

Mdlalose said that SASSA was “collecting and processing information of children in need of school uniforms”.

The storm caused widespread damage around Utrecht, the nearest town, blowing roofs off homes and government buildings, toppling electricity poles and uprooting trees. The town was without water or electricity for three weeks, said Thamsanqa Buthelezi of the Utrecht Civic Organisation.

Small businesses, especially livestock farmers, were badly affected, said Utrecht Chamber of Business chairperson Nompumelelo Ntombela.

The Driving testing centre in Utrecht was destroyed in the storm.

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