Another homeless woman dies in Durban

A HOMELESS woman who lived in Davenport Park and who was one of the victims injured in a mob attack on 9 June, has died.

Heather Rorick, chairperson of the Bulwer Community Safety Forum, was called to the park this morning (Tuesday 22 July) where she found the body of Zodwa Majola, covered with a blanket.

Rorick said the 31-year-old woman had not been right since the attack and her health had slowly deteriorated.

“At the time, I had told her that night to go to the hospital, but she said she would go the next day. She complained recently that her stomach was sore. If there was something wrong with her health before, the attack could’ve set it off. I saw her partner, Sthembiso, last night as I was going into a meeting, and he told me her legs had started to swell up. He is taking her death very badly,” she said.

Rorick said she had been told by the paramedic who attended the scene that Zodwa’s death could’ve been the result of a slow shut down of her organs.

Sthembiso Madlala said on the night of 9 June, he and Zodwa had seen people throwing stones at others in the streets and she had been hit on the ankle. She had been beaten but had not gone to the hospital as she didn’t have her ID book with her in Durban.

“She was sick yesterday and was crying about her stomach. She defecated on herself and I cleaned her up and tried to sleep. She has been sick for too long now. Her ID is at her home in Kokstad, so we didn’t go to the hospital,” he said, visibly upset by the loss of his partner.

Zodwa is the second homeless woman to lose her life in a Durban park this year.

Umbilo CPF chairperson, Ben Madokwe, who also attended the scene said the issue of shelters needed to be addressed.

“We have this loss of life, yet there is no urgency in addressing the issue that these people need to be accommodated in a place temporarily, to ensure this sort of incident doesn’t occur. Again, we have an issue where this person has no ID and wasn’t able to access medical help. There are people in the municipality who are meant to be looking after these homeless people, but they are not doing enough. They need to assist and see what they can do, we are not seeing any progress,” he said.

Madokwe said the municipality needed to host an indaba, or a small summit, around the issue of the homeless in the city.

“The municipality needs to call this indaba urgently and invite all stakeholders in the city, as this issue needs everyone’s involvement,” he said.

“We can’t carry on like this. The municipality has got to start helping these people instead of moving them all over. It is inhumane to see people suffer and die like this, it is terrible,” said a teary Rorick, who said she had done all she could for the small group of people living in Davenport Park.

“We have organised their orange cards with the municipality and we have been asking the municipality to help. This is just a small group of people, they need to come in and help, but they don’t. There is only talk of Botha’s Park, but not all these people are whoonga addicts,” she said.