A rock-strewn, potholed road to town finally got the better of Monwabisi Qalaba’s electric and manual wheelchairs.
He had used the electric chair, with its larger, more robust wheels to make the 4km trek to town to get his disability grant, shop and interact socially, but it broke down last month.
He said his manual chair was not up to the rough road, so he simply stopped going to KwaBhaca (formerly Mount Frere) from his Elubhacweni village.
He has been wheelchair-bound for 47 years ever since contracting polio as a little boy.
The 52-year-old, who stays with his nephews in the village, cannot use his own arms to push a wheelchair, and has to rely on the youngsters to do it for him.
But hope rode into town this week when he and 24 people living with disabilities received new wheelchairs.
Donated by Eastern Cape businessman Phiko Mtshotsho Dabula, who owns a security company in Kokstad, the wheelchairs were handed over by Alfred Nzo district mayor Sixolile Mehlomakhulu in KwaBhaca on Wednesday.
Qalaba was full of praise and thanks.
About 30km from Qalaba, disabled Ncubeko Mazule, 25, also struggles to move around his home in Matyeni village.
“I battle sometimes to even go to the shops by myself due to the condition of the wheelchair I was using,” Mazule said.
“I am really happy to get a new one.”
Mehlomakhulu also handed over blankets from Dabula to the Madzikane KaZulu Memorial Hospital during his visit...