Never-say-die residents from Tsaba village in Tsholomnqa have decided to build a community hall using their own resources after years of pleading with Buffalo City Metro have fallen on deaf ears.Community leader Bonisile Dyani said they were halfway through building the hall when it was destroyed by a hailstorm in 2012.
However, after having to hold many funeral services in the sun, wind and rain on an empty field, Dyani was moved to call on all 400 households in the area to build the hall themselves.
“We decided to build our own hall hoping to meet the municipality halfway, and after we built it we wrote a letter to former mayor Zukiswa Ncitha to ask the municipality to just help us to finish it off, but that has never happened.”
He said they had reported their struggles with the project to the municipality a number of times.
“In January 2017 I went to BCM again and we were promised that the matter would be discussed in a council meeting to see if there can’t be a budget allocated for it.” Nothing happened.
Daily Dispatch saw that the foundations were in and walls up, but there are no windows, doors or roof. The walls are about 1.5m high and 14m by 10m, equating to an enclosed area of about 140m².Eight villagers – comprising taxi drivers, pensioners, and unemployed youths – were mixing cement, carting, and laying bricks.
“We can’t have community meetings and there is no place where the youth can have extramural activities.
“We really struggle when there is a funeral, especially when it is raining.
“If a family can’t afford a tent we have to stand outside and conduct funeral services.”
Dyani added. “We asked for help from everyone but because we know that life is tough, people do not have money, they rely on social grants so we ask people to donate whatever amount they can and from that money we have to pay volunteers who are building this hall.”
His words were echoed by 60year-old Sgingqi Gxamza: “I was born and raised here.
“Its been too long without a community hall. I decided to be a part of this after I saw the struggle that our people are facing. We can’t even have a decent funeral service. We are not asking much from the BCM – all we want is just a community hall. It is the right of every community to have a hall where we can meet and discuss the wellbeing of our community.”
BCM’s communications office had not responded to questions sent earlier, by the time of going to print...