Family of ten live with TB in one shack

“I have given up hope of the RDP home promised 24 years ago. I just need, even a temporary structure to move into with my family,” says 72-year-old Nomathamsanqa Delihlazo.

Last year in October the one-roomed house in Duncan Village, East London, where the family had been living since 2006, collapsed after heavy rains. They still use its ruins as a dining area during the day. The family has now moved in to the one-roomed shack of their adult daughter. All ten members of the family sleep together, sharing two beds and the floor.

Delihlazo said her grandchildren and three of her adult children have TB. They collect medication at Frere Hospital.

“We are all trapped in here, and we will share the sickness, if not already. Five of us share one bed, while others use the floor. There is no window in this shack,” says Delihlazo.

She says her daughter, Nomalungisa, is so weak she cannot move from the bed and is incontinent. Delihlazo says adult diapers and gloves would ease her burden.

None of the family are employed and they depend on her pension.

Delihlazo said the ward councillor had visited, taken down their names and given them food parcels and blankets.

Ward 7 councillor Clara Yekiso-Morolong said, “We are aware of their hardship, but these things take time … as they do not rest on my power alone. However, we have prioritised them as people who will receive a temporary structure where they will stay.”

Delihlazo’s adult son, Mzwanele, says, “We have accepted this life as ours … We just remain strong in a hopeless situation. We have given up aspirations of receiving help from elsewhere.”

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