Monwabisi Park residents struggle to rebuild after storms
Residents of Monwabisi Park informal settlement in Khayelitsha have been hard hit by the strong winds and heavy rain since last week.
Some have been left trying to salvage what remains of their damaged and flooded homes while others have had to abandon all their possessions.
On Sunday some residents said they had not been allocated temporary shelter or received assistance from the City of Cape Town.
One of the residents whose house was destroyed, Yonela Dolophini, said on Thursday night around 10pm they were watching television when the electricity went out and a heavy downpour brought their shack down on top of them.
“There were four of us at that time watching TV and all of a sudden the roof and walls of our shack fell on us, luckily we managed to escape unharmed,” said Ms Dolophini.
She said some of their neighbours’ shacks had been blown away with building material getting stuck on electricity poles.
“We started to recover our belongings. I lost everything beside the bed. The rest of the furniture is destroyed,” said Ms Dolophini.
She said since Thursday night they have been trying to rebuild their home, sleeping at the site and using a fire to keep warm at night. She said they only received one meal a day and a blanket from Gift of the Givers.
Ward 99 councillor Lonwabo Mqina said people had nowhere to go.
“The rain and flooding got worse on Saturday night, this is a problem for our people as some people have nowhere to go or sleep, as there is no temporary shelter that has been provided.”
He estimated that there are more than 4000 people who are affected, and said only Gift of the Givers had come to provide aid to the community. He added that he is still in talks with various structures of the City of Cape Town as well as the national government to provide emergency aid to affected communities.
On Sunday afternoon the City’s Mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said in a statement: “As Cape Town grapples with the inclement weather that is set to prevail for most of the week, the City is doing all it can to address the impacts as quickly as possible.”
He added that muliti-disciplinary Disaster Coordinating Team will remain activated until the worst of the weather has passed.
A statement by Dr Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers said: “Gift of the Givers teams have hit the ground hard, working round the clock, and are totally soaked, as they respond to calls of desperation from Nomzamo, Lwandle, Mangaung, Kanana, Barcelona and New Rest Gugulethu, Mfuleni, Mbokweni, Kosovo Phillipi, Island, Phola Park, Klipfontein, Marikana, Kusisikhona, Winnie Madikizela, Siyangenya, Sir Lowry's Pass Village and Tafelsig.”
