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More than 100 people died in the floods.
Thirty days after the devastating floods that hit Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, the affected residents are still struggling to recover. On the 10th of June, some areas of Slovo Park and Decoligny in the Mthatha West area were submerged under water.
Around 100 people lost their lives, while others survived, but had their lives disrupted.
One of the victims, Nosipho Khosi-Dabane, mourns the passing of her husband and her two children. She has plaster of paris on her right arm after she was injured while trying to save her two children and husband.
She says she’s still looking for her 13-year-old boy whose body has not been found yet.
“What I want to say is that, since government had promised to make sure that we find our missing loved ones, I am pleading for them to help me find my child. I want to bury him next to his father and brother,” she pleads.
A prayer service was held seeking to give hope and support to the distraught victims, but to some, such as Nombuyiselo Smile and Isaac Nombombo, all it brought are sad memories as they saw the place that used to be their homes lying in ruins.
“What comes to my mind after seeing this is, what am I going to do on the day of the end of mourning period in December because I do not have a home? Even today, I am reminded of that. I think I will have to erect a tent to accommodate people,” says Smile.
“I curse this township in my heart because I lost my nephew, Anathi Nyathela, who was staying with me here. He called me and I struggled to hear him. I think it was when he was overpowered by the water,” says Nombombo.
Some of the learners who survived the floods by hanging on to trees, say they are still traumatised.
Sixolise Mbelebele and Khanya Vava recall what happened on the day.
“What hurts the most is that I was in the water for five hours until the other learner was swept away by the floods. My eyes are swollen because I was in the water for too long without getting help. Before we were in the water, we took about 30 minutes on top of the bridge calling for help, but nothing was done,” says Mbelebele.
“I am hurt that I lost friends and classmates that day. It’s very painful because when I am alone I think about the pain. I wish I could always be with many people so that I do not think about that day,” says Vava.
Organisers of the service believe this will ease the pain.
Civil Society Organisation’s leader is Bishop Tshepo Machaea, says, “We have (gotten to) a point where, as the organisations around here, we felt that let’s come together and call some of the families that are around, that are available to come to this place where they were staying. Some of them they had houses, some of them, they had whatever. In fact their shelters were here, but today there is nothing and some of them they are afraid of coming here because they say they have that feeling that at any given time the same thing may happen.”
More than 100 people died in the floods, which left many more homeless and caused extensive damage to infrastructure.
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