Three families received gifts from Mpulanga-speaker

Speaker of the Mpumalanga Legislature, Ms Makhosazane Masilela, handed over gifts to three destitute families in Govan Mbeki Municipality on Friday, July 30, as part of celebrating Mandela Day.

Ms Masilela handed over furniture and food parcels to the families.

When talking to 87-year-old Ms Emely Mthombeni, the speaker encouraged young people to follow in Ms Mthombeni’s footsteps of living in a clean place.

“Young people must learn from this granny who lives alone. Her house is clean. We are facing the Covid-19 pandemic and it is required for us to be clean to avoid being infected.

“If I look inside the house, I thought there was someone who cleaned the house for the granny, but I was surprised to be told that this she is staying alone.”

Ms Masilela said at the same time, she does not want to encourage someone as old as Ms Mthombeni to live all alone.

Ms Mthombeni was living in an unhealthy condition for years because of sewage that was flowing inside her RDP house. She also complained about respiratory illnesses, alleging it was caused by the stench.

This senior citizen’s furniture was destroyed in the sewage spill and was she happy to get new furniture from the government.

Govan Mbeki Municipality’s executive mayor, Mr Nhlakanipho Zuma, said the municipality took action to deal with Ms Mthombeni’s living conditions by fixing the sewer pipes and making sure her yard is filled with ash to prevent more sewage from flowing into her yard.

“This problem gave us sleepless nights because Ms Mthombeni was always complaining that she has flu. We decided to intervene as the municipality.

“We fixed our sewer pipes and we also decided to fix the whole house. We are happy that the granny is living in a healthy environment, ” said Mr Zuma.

Other recipients of gifts were the Msibifamily of eMbalenhle who was living in a one-room shack before contractors built them a two-room house, and also the Grava child-headed family at Thistle Grove in Kinross.

The speaker was accompanied by the Govan Mbeki municipal speaker, Ms Fikile Nyembe, the chief whip of the legislature, Mr Fidel Mlombo and councillors.