Dire straits for Soutpan family
A family in Soutpan live in isolation and are struggling to get by.
Soutpan residents Abel Mulambo and his pregnant wife, Jestine Hasani, say they feel neglected by the government because they are not provided with basic services such as electricity and running water. The family’s isolated house is situated next to the Mabopane highway close to the Soutpan off-ramp.
Mulambo lives in this isolated dwelling with Hasani; whom he is only traditionally married to, his cousin Lydia Mulambo, and nephew Boysen Baloyi. The 25-year-old Mulambo is originally from Giyani in Limpopo. He had to drop out of school in grade 7 after the death of his father, and was forced to relocate to Pretoria so that he could take care of the house while looking for a job. But without a matric, finding a proper job has remained just a dream. “Life is difficult, as I am unemployed and have to rely on piece jobs, which are hard to find,” said Mulambo.
The family gets water from a truck that does not have a fixed timetable. Mulambo said he would have liked to create a garden, so that his family could perform subsistence farming, but could not do so because of the water shortage. The house is in a bad condition and is not safe for a pregnant woman to live in, but this small family does not have anywhere to go, since Mulambo’s family would not let them move back to Limpopo. Mulambo said he and his family have had to adjust to the harshest living conditions, but they still found ways to get by every day. “We just take it one day at a time,” said Mulambo. He said he has tried several times to apply to get electricity, but his efforts were all in vain because of the location of his house.
