Maverick Citizen

FOOD Crisis

Mthatha’s forgotten people survive by foraging in a dump for a meal

Mthatha’s forgotten people survive by foraging in a dump for a meal
Thobeka Mvuyelwa carries plastic bags from Bhongweni dumping site in Mthatha. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

On the outskirts of Mthatha a family survives on the food they find at a dumping site — and with no identity documents they have little prospect of help coming any time soon.

“Without this dumping site my kids would have died of starvation many years ago. They were all born here and survive here by eating food that other people threw away. Did they deserve to suffer like this? The answer is no. It is painful for me to see them like this.”

This is how Thobeka Mvuyelwa, who doesn’t know how old she is, tells of life with her three children, Saphokazi Matomela (24), Masibulele Mvuyelwa (18) and 10-year-old Mzamo Mvuyelwa.

Mvuyelwa doesn’t have an identity document and never went to school.

Saphokazi Matomela (24) carries her seven-month-old baby. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

Ever since she can remember, she has had to scavenge for food from dumping sites and sell plastic for recycling, and now her children are doing the same.

None have documentation, including her 7-month-old grandchild, Oyintando.

Thobeka said that when Nelson Mandela was released from  prison in 1990, she tried to apply for an ID, but has still not received one.

“I have been knocking on the Department of Home Affairs’ door for my ID, but I never receive any assistance and none of my kids have IDs,” she said.

The family lives in a shack next to the Bhongweni dumping site in Mthatha.

“We are South Africa’s neglected people,” she said.

Bhongweni dumping site in Mthatha, where the Mvuyelwa family collects food. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

Mvuyelwa pleaded for the government to at least provide them with IDs so that the children can get social grants and go to school.

Her son Masibulele goes to the dumping site every day and brings back discarded food for the family to eat.

“I have no choice but to hustle for my mother and the children, so that they can have something to eat. As you see, every day I am doing this: collecting food from this dumping site. That is how we are surviving in my home.

“I pray for two things: an ID and food. I never went to school because I didn’t have a birth certificate and neither did my younger brother Mzamo.”

His sister Saphokazi praised him for getting food for the family.

“In order to get something to eat these kids have to go inside the dumping site to collect food. We share what they find, or my mother would use the last of her money she makes by selling plastic recycling.

“It’s difficult to get the social grant because I do not have an identity document and neither does my mother. No one is working here and it’s hurting to live this life.

“I wish someone can help us, because my worry is for my child and younger brothers who are now growing up in this situation.” DM/MC

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