eMBALENHLE – The community at eMbalenhle extension 22 is living in fear as their houses are filled with water which they believe comes from a sinkhole.
They alleged that the municipality has intentionally allocated them to this place, knowing very well that it is dangerous for them to live there.
“The municipality promised that our problem will be solved because it needs urgent attention, but to date, nothing has happened.
“We cannot sleep at night because we don’t know what will happen to us. Our RDP houses are also sinking into the ground,” said Ms Dudu Khumalo, an affected resident.
“Last April we experienced an earthquake. We heard a sound like falling stones. Clean water came up from the ground, also inside our houses. We thought we were going to die. Now it has become the norm of our lives,” said Ms Khumalo.
These community members said they want the municipality to move them to a better place and blame the institution for not thoroughly inspecting the area before allocating people to live there.
They question how the municipality could have approved such stands without proper inspection.
They alleged that the municipality does not have engineers who can foresee danger.
“Municipal officials who come here cannot solve the problem. They then blame and accuse us of land invasion while we were allocated these stands by the same institution. If we invaded the land, why did the municipality built RDP houses for us?” ask Ms Khumalo.
She claimed that some officials demand money when the community asks for ash to repair their homes.
“We are swimming every day, I always wear waterproof boots inside and outside my house, even when I to go to bed. I only take off the boots once I’m on my bed.”
The community wants the municipality to move them to a better place where they can live better and be safe from natural disasters.
Ridge Times contacted the municipal department of communication and the Govan Mbeki Municipality’s executive mayor, Mr Nhlakanipho Zuma, for comment, but neither responded at the time of going to press.
