A decade after sinkhole disaster, Khutsong residents still live in fear
A decade after a sinkhole damaged homes in Khutsong’s Xhosa Section, residents say abandoned houses have become criminal hideouts, leading to increased burglaries, drug use and ongoing fear in the community.
Exactly a decade after a huge sinkhole caved in next to house no. 590 in Khutsong’s Xhosa Section, residents are still struggling with problems related to this issue.
This sinkhole caved in during January 2016 after a water leak was left unattended by the Merafong City Local Municipality the previous year. Although about eight families were forced to move away after their houses were damaged by the sinkhole, not all the remains of the damaged houses have been demolished.
Residents who are still staying in the area say that these damaged houses have now become the preferred hiding place for criminals.
“They sleep in the houses at night but sit outside and smoke nyaope during the day. Even if you tell them to stop doing it in front of the kids, they just do as they please,” says one of the residents, Nandipha Rudaza.
The residents say that burglaries and muggings have also become rife due to the empty houses drawing criminals.
“They hang around here and check our houses. When you want to go to town, you have to check whether they see you, or leave someone to watch your house,” says Bonginkosi Mahlango.
On the night of January 29, Rudaza became a victim of the criminals lurking in her neighbourhood herself.
“I was asleep in my bedroom and woke up at around 01:00. I opened the bedroom door and saw them in the house. I jumped back into my room and closed the door. When they were gone, I saw that they had stolen my Wi-Fi router, FNB bank card, and a plastic bag with my little sister’s clothes,” a still shocked Rudaza told the Herald the next day.
According to the residents, they had tried to get help from their ward councillor and the municipality several times. According to the residents, the problems seem to stem from the fact that the municipality had given houses to some of their former neighbours whose houses were damaged by the sinkhole. As these people were not given title deeds for these new houses, they refused to have their old damaged houses demolished.
The Herald took the issue to the municipality’s marketing and communication manager, Temba Fezani, on Monday, but no feedback was received by printing time.
