POLOKO TAU
A SICKLY Soweto grandmother has been forced to share a bed with her son, sleeping in it when he works at night.
Emily Mothamane, 59, who suffers from arthritis and has been unable to work due to “serious” back injuries she sustained in a car accident in 1991, has been forced into this sleeping arrangement since she was evicted at the end of last month from a backyard room she was renting.
Mothamane had first been shocked to discover that her R1 140 disability grant was cut off at the end of last month.
Then when she could not pay her R500 monthly rent, her landlord allegedly removed her belongings from her Mapetla room, where she had stayed for more than a year, and dumped her bed, cupboard, two-plate stove, cutlery, bedding, clothing and other belongings outside.
Mothamane said they had been there for about two weeks and were getting damaged by the sun. “I arrived home only to find my belongings strewn around the property by my landlord.
“I was in hospital at the time, unaware I needed to reapply for my grant. I have since reapplied and (hope) I get paid in December. Until then I remain homeless.”
Mothamane had shared her room with her four grandchildren, aged three to 13. She had sent the two older ones to a relative in the Free State earlier this year and remained with the two younger ones, who are orphans.
“I also lived with my 24-year-old son in the same room, but then he got a job as a security guard and moved out to rent this small shack in Phiri. The shack is too tiny for us to cram in at the same time,” Mothamane said.
“I sleep in the shack at night with the two children whenever my son is working night shift. We get up so he can rest when he comes back in the morning, and we then loiter around the township.”
When her son is off-duty, Mothamane relies on others to give her and her grandchildren a place to sleep.
Mothamane said an RDP house would make her situation better. “I first applied in 1996, but then lost the papers. I applied again in 2004 and went again to verify my details about three years ago,” she said.
“I’m very sickly and am often admitted to hospital due to severe back pains and my arthritis is not getting any better.”
Mothamane showed The Star a letter written by her doctor at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Academic Hospital in which he recommended she be provided with an RDP house. “I have taken this letter to the (provincial housing) offices, where I was told that the department did not handle such cases. I feel helpless. All I need is a place where I and my grandchildren can lay our heads (down) properly,” she said.
The Gauteng Department of Local Government and Housing has promised to look into Mothamane’s case.