THE shutdown of businesses in Malamulele is forcing residents to cross a crocodile-infested river to buy groceries.
Businesses and schools in the area have been on shutdown for weeks as a result of a strike by residents who are demanding a stand-alone municipality.
Everyday since the shutdown began, scores of people from around Mhinga, near Kruger's Punda Maria gate, have been risking their lives going to grocery stores on the other side of the crocodile-infested Luvuvhu River.
According to a man who identified himself as Fanie, about 50 people cross the river with plastic bags full of food and other household essentials everyday.
Fanie helps people cross the waist-deep waters, especially the elderly and women who have babies on their backs.
Sowetan met Fanie yesterday as he helped a couple with an infant son cross on their way back from Thohoyandou, 50km away.
Like most people around Mhinga, the couple, who asked not to be named out of fear, usually buy their groceries from nearby spaza shops or from the Saselamani shopping complex about 5km away.
But since the strike began, the businesses have been forced to shut down in solidarity with the demand for government to remove the area from the Thohoyandou-based Thulamela municipality.
People and vehicles are barred from leaving or entering the Malamulele area between 6am and 6pm.
"Those who want to shop in Thohoyandou have to pass the access point at the Luvuvhu bridge before 6am and catch a taxi or bus in Lambani," said a man crossing.
He said a different route had to be taken when returning home. This entailed walking 1km through the thick bushes of Lambani village before getting to the river.
The river divides the Tsonga-speaking Mhinga area - which is affected by the shutdown - and the Venda-speaking Lambani village, which is not affected by the shutdown.
"We take short cuts through the bush when we come back from shopping. It's a scary experience because there are ritual murderers these days and women can be raped.
"We cross Luvuvhu being aware that there are crocodiles but there's nothing we can do," the man said.
"Going through the access point with plastic grocery bags is risky. The people who patrol there will confiscate your food and spill it on the ground as punishment for defying the shutdown," he said.
Two women from Botsoleni village, about 5km from Mhinga, said they had helped elderly women cross the river after collecting their social grants in Thohoyandou.
"A frail elderly woman was almost swept away. Her ID book was washed away and I lost a shoe," one woman said.
Despite these desperate measures, all the people Sowetan spoke to insisted breaking the rules of the Malamulele shutdown did not mean they were not in support of the fight for their own municipality.
"It's not that we don't support the strike. We want our own municipality but desperate times call for desperate measures. We have to eat," the father of two said.
A stakeholders meeting held in Malamulele on Sunday, which included Cooperative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan, failed to curb the protests that have seen over 100 schools closed since the beginning of the year. The community was banking on feedback from the Municipal Demarcation Board today to decide whether they end or continue with their defiant quest to get their own municipality.
mazibilas@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Curfew shakes Malamulele
THE shutdown of businesses in Malamulele is forcing residents to cross a crocodile-infested river to buy groceries.
Businesses and schools in the area have been on shutdown for weeks as a result of a strike by residents who are demanding a stand-alone municipality.
Everyday since the shutdown began, scores of people from around Mhinga, near Kruger's Punda Maria gate, have been risking their lives going to grocery stores on the other side of the crocodile-infested Luvuvhu River.
According to a man who identified himself as Fanie, about 50 people cross the river with plastic bags full of food and other household essentials everyday.
Fanie helps people cross the waist-deep waters, especially the elderly and women who have babies on their backs.
Sowetan met Fanie yesterday as he helped a couple with an infant son cross on their way back from Thohoyandou, 50km away.
Like most people around Mhinga, the couple, who asked not to be named out of fear, usually buy their groceries from nearby spaza shops or from the Saselamani shopping complex about 5km away.
But since the strike began, the businesses have been forced to shut down in solidarity with the demand for government to remove the area from the Thohoyandou-based Thulamela municipality.
People and vehicles are barred from leaving or entering the Malamulele area between 6am and 6pm.
"Those who want to shop in Thohoyandou have to pass the access point at the Luvuvhu bridge before 6am and catch a taxi or bus in Lambani," said a man crossing.
He said a different route had to be taken when returning home. This entailed walking 1km through the thick bushes of Lambani village before getting to the river.
The river divides the Tsonga-speaking Mhinga area - which is affected by the shutdown - and the Venda-speaking Lambani village, which is not affected by the shutdown.
"We take short cuts through the bush when we come back from shopping. It's a scary experience because there are ritual murderers these days and women can be raped.
"We cross Luvuvhu being aware that there are crocodiles but there's nothing we can do," the man said.
"Going through the access point with plastic grocery bags is risky. The people who patrol there will confiscate your food and spill it on the ground as punishment for defying the shutdown," he said.
Two women from Botsoleni village, about 5km from Mhinga, said they had helped elderly women cross the river after collecting their social grants in Thohoyandou.
"A frail elderly woman was almost swept away. Her ID book was washed away and I lost a shoe," one woman said.
Despite these desperate measures, all the people Sowetan spoke to insisted breaking the rules of the Malamulele shutdown did not mean they were not in support of the fight for their own municipality.
"It's not that we don't support the strike. We want our own municipality but desperate times call for desperate measures. We have to eat," the father of two said.
A stakeholders meeting held in Malamulele on Sunday, which included Cooperative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan, failed to curb the protests that have seen over 100 schools closed since the beginning of the year. The community was banking on feedback from the Municipal Demarcation Board today to decide whether they end or continue with their defiant quest to get their own municipality.
mazibilas@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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