‘They invade our home. Some drop from the roof while we are eating supper and others slither behind the couches.’
The terrified woman from Kanana describes how snakes, scorpions and huge rats terrorise her family. She says they have been hiding under the huge boulders in front of her yard for thirty years.
Mapule Khune (43) says mayors and councillors have ascended and descended from the council seats since the 1990s and have never assisted her.
She recalls how a former councillor sent a team in to cut the grass around her yard, deliberately ignoring the huge rocks in the yard. The executive mayor, Kgotso Khumalo also did an inspection and promised to do something.
The present councillor, Johan Zerwick, said she was not the only one with rats in her yard. He made fun of her and joked that she could make lots of money by selling them to the university for research.
The woman did not see the humour and shed a tear when she told the story. ‘That is the most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard. How am I going to catch them when our family is living in danger?’ said Mapule.
My home resembles a zoo
To keep the snakes away and protect her family, Mapule has more than six cats. ‘Some have died as the years went by. No one in their right mind would keep so many cats on the property but I have no choice. My house is like a zoo. Our neighbours accuse us of witchcraft because of all the cats in our place. Even our relatives are afraid to visit us,’ she said.
The family has gone as far as getting hold of a very potent poison and spraying it all over their house. They had to leave home for four days because the poison is even lethal to human beings,’ she added.
As she tells the horror story, she pauses for a moment to introduce her 13-year-old daughter who has just walked in from school.
‘She has spent her whole life living with the dangers in our home. When she was playing in the house as a two-year-old, she tried to pick up a snake that was curled up – heaven knows what would have happened if it had bitten her,’ she said.
The mother is once again pleading with the municipality to remove the boulder that is more than a square metre in size. In addition to all the snakes and poisonous creepy-crawlies, the house is full of cracks because of the boulders. ‘I’m afraid that this house is going to be reduced to rubble one day,’ she said pointing to the cracks in the rooms.
Ward 4 councillor, Johan Zerwick responds
‘There are also other stands in Ward 4 in Kanana that are on that rocky side. There are at least four stands I can go and show the readers. I took up the issue and was told that blasting was the only way to remove the rocks. That is not even a consideration; Council has never done it before and will not do it in the future. That was my feedback as the current councillor of the area,’ he said.
‘I then jokingly said we had to turn the situation to her benefit by selling the snakes and mice to the University’s research lab or the pet shops. The rocks cannot be blamed for the damage to the houses as they have been there all the time. If the houses are cracking, there must be other reasons,’ said Zerwick.
‘I see this kind of complaint as the first shots in the 2019 election campaign. Even the fact that the residents have been trying for decades to get the rocks removed proves my point,’ he concluded.
*Neither the council spokesperson, Willie Maphosa or the mayoral spokesperson, Victor Matlhomola Boqo, responded to the media inquiry that the Herald sent last week.
