Life is agony for a Grahamstown pensioner, in the home he finally owns after a lifetime of renting.
Life is agony for a Grahamstown pensioner, in the home he finally owns after a lifetime of renting.
Michael Kambuti, 64, was overjoyed when he was told that he would finally own a house after forking out rent for more than two decades.
But his joy was short-lived last year, when the retired father of two was told that the home he had longed for all these years was in a double-storey building.
His newly built double-storey house, because he struggles to climb the stairs.
Kambuti sustained serious injuries to his lower back, falling off scaffolding during a job for one of the many construction companies he worked for.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail in his new Extension 10 home, Kambuti said it was well-built and up to standard, but walking up and down the stairs every day was taking its toll on his battered body.
"I feel excruciating pain in my hips every time I walk up and down these stairs. But there's nothing I can do about it, because I need a roof over my head," he said.
Kambuti finds little relief from a belt that was given to him by a doctor in Port Elizabeth to put on when he experiences unbearable pain.
"The belt helps me when I feel pain due to a change in weather or tiredness, but it doesn't do much for me when I climb up and down these stairs daily," he said.
Kambuti said he had no choice but to take the house because the owners of the house he was renting at the time had begun renovations.
He took the Extension 10 house, despite his reservations about the stairs.
Kambuti said he would gladly move to another house if it was possible to do so.
Responding to questions about Kambuti's ordeal, Makana Municipality spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said a person in Kambuti's situation is welcome to go to the municipal housing department in Joza to inform officials of his situation.
"He can go and report his problem there and they could see if they are able to help him," she said.
Ramokolo said that she was under the impression that the double storey houses were meant for younger people; however, she said it was the duty of applicants to declare on the form if they have special needs.
"People must declare on the form if they are disabled when they apply for a house, or we will assume they have no special needs," she said.
