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UMZIMKHULU businessman, Milton Mncwabe, drove almost eight hours to help a family who has been living in poor conditions for many years in Elliotdale outside Mthatha.
The family of six, which includes the elderly Mabhontilana Blaai (79), live in a two-room mud structure in Bhakubha village.
Mncwabe said he heard the painful story of the family on a radio programme on Umhlobo Wenene FM and asked his contacts to assist them.
“I heard that the family had gone to sleep without food for some days and decided to lend a hand.
“When I drove to the area, I stopped in Mthatha and approached some hardware shops for donations,” he said, adding that he received a 2 500 litre water tank as a donation from a hardware shop in Mthatha last Friday.
“I was very happy to receive some donations from H-Mart Hardware in Umthatha and shop owners promised to help the family with anything they needed.
“I bought groceries and left money for the family to have something to eat after we left,” he said.
H-Mart Hardware owner Saleem Nazer and his employee Imran Ali encouraged other people and businesses to help needy families.
Mncwabe owns the funeral parlour Kulungile in Umzimkhulu. In April 2015, he assisted a paralysed man in obtaining a wheelchair after he saw the man struggling to walk with rusty crutches at the EG Mall in Kokstad.
“When I visited the family last Friday, a young man was preparing food. To my surprise, there was no food for the next day,” said Mncwabe.
Family member Abongile Blaai (25), who dropped out of school during his Grade 10 year after he got sick, thanked God for what Mncwabe had done for his family.
“Sometimes I asked myself why I come from a poor family, but God is my hope,” he said.
