Learners and workers are unable to go to school and work, respectively, following devastating floods that damaged public infrastructure in Klipvoor village, Brits, last week.
To make matters worse, young girls from the North West village in Brits, North West, have run out of sanitary towels, and as a result, this led to a high absenteeism rate after they skipped school for more than a week.
The learners and workers cannot leave their community due to damaged roads and bridges caused by last week’s heavy rainfall that led to severe flooding across many parts of the country.
The aftermath is costing Klipvoor residents, disrupting schools and other movements.
The village is behind Borakalalo Game Reserve, not far from Borakalalo Dam.
The dam is overflowing into the Moretele River, which has caused floods on the roads and led to the only bridge in the area to collapse.
On Saturday, the provincial Department of Social Development and the police responded to the resident’s requests for assistance.
A chopper landed but only dropped a few food items for the village’s over 100 residents.
Though it is not clear why the chopper never returned on the day, residents are alleging that it is because he ran out of petrol.
IDs required for food parcels
“There’s no life here. We are literally under full lockdown; even during Covid-19, there was movement, but now we are confined; the single route that should take us to schools, clinics, work, and other destinations has been damaged. The only way out is by airlifting, which is not easy to get,” a resident said.
On Sunday, the department returned with more food packs, this time utilising a helicopter and police trucks.
Desperate residents said they were required to produce ID cards to get food parcels.
“This also left other residents who did not have ID cards out. We were getting food parcels by showing an ID card, yet there are many people here, including foreign nationals, who are taking care of farms and other homes here. They are starving because they did not receive anything.
“Our government allowed these people to be in the country. So in situations like this, the government must feed them [undocumented foreign nationals]. They are human beings and also starve like us,” she said.
What disturbs the residents the most is that pupils have not attended school since last Tuesday.
“We contacted the school for a contingency plan. We don’t mind if they send us the work, and we’ll look for a few young people in the village to teach our children while we wait for the government to repair the bridge and road,” said another resident.
Sanitary pads
The situation taught the residents that small things might be overlooked.
“When the food parcels arrived over the weekend, we noticed that there are many minor items that we need in our homes but do not pay attention to.
“For example, we do not have sanitary pads for the girls because they were not included in the food parcels.
“We are requesting sanitary pads from social development for the schoolgirls, but women are also in need of them.”
If someone gets sick or needs medical assistance in this village, they will be stuck.
“I don’t want to think of death because if someone dies, then I don’t know what will happen,” according to a resident.
Household profiling
The spokesperson for the department of social development in the province, Petrus Siko, said help was imminent.
“The families who faced undue hardship received social relief of distress in the form of food parcels from a team of social workers, and SAPS used a helicopter and some boats to access the affected areas,” she said.
Social development MEC Sussana Dantjie said in addition to the social relief food packages, social workers will conduct household profiling in the affected areas to determine the extent of the needs of the residents.
The profiling, Dantjie said, will take place as soon as the social workers have access to the affected areas.
Meanwhile, everyone waits to be rescued; the residents feel like they are a forgotten village just until the elections come.
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