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What was supposed to be the happiest day of her life has turned into a nightmare for a Mpumalanga mother of teenage twins living with Xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare genetic disorder that affects the skin, eyes and, sometimes, the nervous system.
After making known on TikTok her ordeal of living with the twins in a shack, donors jumped in to rescue her, not only donating food and skin treatment creams for the two boys, but also raising funds for her to buy a house.
The municipality then became involved by taking over the process, so the money that was donated went into its coffers.
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However, more than six months later, Phumzile Mkhonza is still waiting for her dream to come true and has instead been sent from pillar to post by those who were supposed to get her a decent house.
DONORS RALLY BEHIND TWINS
According to the family and community of Bethal, about 15 donors came forward, including Gift of the Givers and the Collen Mashawana Foundation, which offered to build the Mkhonzas a house in just two weeks.
Said the devastated mother:
She said the mayor of Govan Mbeki Municipality, Nhlakanipho Zuma and his team took her to view a house in Bethal extension 4, and the whole community was also invited.
“I was very happy and felt as if my prayers had been answered when I went to view the house. The owner was selling it for R900 000, but he agreed to reduce it to R700 000 for my children’s sake.”
She said she was confident because the ANC had been her family’s trusted party for years. However, she is still waiting, until today.
Said Mkhonza:
According to the family and a neighbour, the mayor “hijacked” the process of getting the twins out of the hot shack.
DREAMS SHATTERED
However, things took a different turn when 2 October, the agreed date of the handover of the house, went by without anything happening. She said nothing was communicated to her until she made enquiries.
“That’s when I was told that mayor Zuma and his team couldn’t reach an agreement with the owner of the house. But when I went to the seller, he told me the ANC [municipality] was only offering him R350 000, which was half of what he was demanding,” she explained.
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The owner of the house confirmed to City Press that he was only offered R350 000 by the politicians.
“My house is already on Property24 [an online space advertising properties to buy or rent]. I dropped it from R950 000 to R700 000 because of the urgent condition of the boys. I built it with my hard-earned money and there was no way I was going to give it away for less than half its value price. I want to buy another house, so I turned down the offer,” he said.
Mkhonza said that, when she went back to the mayor for clarity, she was told that the ANC had decided not to buy the house, but to build one instead.
Mkhonza said Zuma confirmed that about R700 000 had been raised for the project.
UNBEARABLE CONDITIONS
When City Press visited the family this week, Mkhonza was sitting outside near the toilet at the back of the shack with her two 17-year-old sons, Lwanele and Lwandile, who were seeking a shady spot which would cool their fragile skin, since the shack was unbearably hot, given the current heatwave.
She told the boys to sit behind the shack during the afternoon, while waiting for the corrugated iron sheets to cool down.
“It’s painful when people come to our shack and cry when they see us, as if they’re remorseful, only to leave us suffering again. We’d like Uncle Mashawana to please come back and build us the house, even here behind gogo’s house. Please, malume buya, we need you. We still don’t have a house. You’re our last hope,” said Lwandile.
DEEPLY SADDENED
The Collen Mashawana Foundation said it was deeply saddened by the turn of events. Foundation spokesperson Austin Mashawana said they were shocked that the family was still living in a shack.
“We came with our crew, ready to build them a house, and we even offered to get the family temporary accommodation while we were building it in their back yard because we understood the urgency of the condition of the children,” said Mashawana. He confirmed that Zuma and his team had taken him to a house in Bethal that was readily secured for the family.
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“We didn’t enter it, but we saw the house. It was a five- to seven-roomed house with a carport and was beautifully plastered with tiles on the outside. We were satisfied and even offered to fully furnish it once it was handed over to the family.”
According to Mashawana, the handover of the house was supposed to have happened on 2 October. However, it never did. He said they had liaised several times with Zuma, but he had taken them from pillar to post until they lost track of time.
“We ended up giving up because there was no truth from these guys and all the deadlines we’d set never [resulted in anything]. It’s just a heartbreaking situation and we weren’t aware of what the family went through after we left,” he said.
NOT ENOUGH FUNDS
Asked to comment, Zuma said the handover had been delayed because the R700 000 in available funds was not enough.
He explained:
He said that he and his team had then worked together with the department of human settlements and had recently identified land, where the family could build a house.
“We’re expecting the construction to start on 1 April. We’re confident that the current contractor fully meets our requirements,” said Zuma.
He added that the money belonged to the ANC, not to the donors. “You can quote me on that. It was the ANC’s money,” said Zuma. He also maintained that the council had offered to pay the R700 000 for the house in two instalments of R350 000 each.
