Grocott’s Mail spoke to residents in eNkanini informal settlement who said getting food under lockdown conditions was almost impossible. Transport from the area is erratic under normal conditions and now had almost come to a halt, residents said. The piecemeal work many relied on was impossible under lockdown.
Angelina Bruintjies does washing and ironing for people at their houses.
“Nou dat dit lockdown is is dit baie swaar. Ons het kinders. Ek kry swaar want ek werk nie. Ek kan nie jobbies toe gaan. Ek het nie kos om vir die kinders to gee nie.”
On Saturday she had in her house a little rice, a couple of potatoes and mielie meal – for three children and two adults. She’s worried about the continuation of the lockdown.
“Ek het reeds niks wat ek bymekaar kan sit nie. Dit gaan swaar wees, baie swaar.”
Meanwhile, Angelina relies on family to help them out.
“Ek bel my suster, dan die bietjie was sy het, bring sy saam vir ons.”
Mabhuti Ncunguta doesn’t work. He lives with two chidren and his wife.
“Dis swaar. Want ek is sieklik.”
He lives with a tracheostomy – a surgically created hole in his throat to help him breathe.
“Nou dat dit lockdown is, is dit te swaar. Is nie kos nie. Is nie werke nie. EN ons kan nie werk nie want ons is sieklik.
“Ons is vier hier binne.”
He normally buys food when he has grant money. On Saturday there was no food in the house.
“Ons het nie. Niks nie. Dis hoekom ek het gepraat met jou want ek het fokol nie, ek het niks nie. Ek weet nie waaraan moet ek gaan nie.
Mbuyiselo Ntlanjeni lives with his wife. He has a grant, but it’s still hard.
“There’s no job.”
He harvests and sells wattle sticks to sell to people wanting to build shacks.
There was no food in the house on Saturday. And if he had food he wouldn’t be able to cook it because he doesn’t have money for paraffin for the stove.
“There’s nothing.”
“I’ve got nothing there. I’m very hungry.
“I need help, my shack burnt down and I have nothing left, not even clothes to wear,” Zola Stamper told Grocott’s Mail. “I don’t work, I depend on a grant to survive. I stay in eNkanini. The family that took me in also depend on to make ends meet. I had bought a new bedroom suite and it got burnt down too. Any help would be highly appreciated, as we don’t have food to eat.” – Transcription and translation from isiXhosa by Azlan Makalima
FIND OUT HOW TO HELP HERE:
https://www.grocotts.co.za/2020/04/17/volunteers-step-in-as-hunger-hits-home/
