"CLEANLINESS is next to godliness," said Ipeleng Ditsoane.
Ditsoane, 40, who is from Mafikeng in North West, is a resident of Tudor Shaft informal settlement, which is built on radioactive ground.
The shacks can sink any time and experts have warned that the thousands of people living in the area were in danger and should be relocated.
Ditsoane says she fears for the health of her boyfriend's epileptic daughter. The smoke from her one-roomed shack causes Karabo Ramonyatsi, 12, to fall sick.
"She faints because of the smoke from the stove I use to cook. But there is nothing I can do. It is not even safe for us to have a stove in the shack because she can easily burn herself," Ditsoane says.
She lives with her boyfriend Bernette Legakane, 57, who works as a carpenter.
Ditsoane has been living in the area since October last year but says living conditions made her miss home.
"The first time I wanted to use a toilet I was shown to a mobile loo. It was filthy. It made me miss my mother's RDP house back home. At least there we had running water nearby. Sometimes the taps do not work properly here," Ditsoane tells us.
Legakane applied for a house many years ago.
"All we hear are empty promises," Ditsoane says. "We have been warned that we cannot live here but there is nothing we can do about it.
"Where will we go? We cannot afford to rent because we have to pay Karabo's special boarding school fees and Bernette is the only one with an income."
'Trapped' on an old mine
"CLEANLINESS is next to godliness," said Ipeleng Ditsoane.
Ditsoane, 40, who is from Mafikeng in North West, is a resident of Tudor Shaft informal settlement, which is built on radioactive ground.
The shacks can sink any time and experts have warned that the thousands of people living in the area were in danger and should be relocated.
Ditsoane says she fears for the health of her boyfriend's epileptic daughter. The smoke from her one-roomed shack causes Karabo Ramonyatsi, 12, to fall sick.
"She faints because of the smoke from the stove I use to cook. But there is nothing I can do. It is not even safe for us to have a stove in the shack because she can easily burn herself," Ditsoane says.
She lives with her boyfriend Bernette Legakane, 57, who works as a carpenter.
Ditsoane has been living in the area since October last year but says living conditions made her miss home.
"The first time I wanted to use a toilet I was shown to a mobile loo. It was filthy. It made me miss my mother's RDP house back home. At least there we had running water nearby. Sometimes the taps do not work properly here," Ditsoane tells us.
Legakane applied for a house many years ago.
"All we hear are empty promises," Ditsoane says. "We have been warned that we cannot live here but there is nothing we can do about it.
"Where will we go? We cannot afford to rent because we have to pay Karabo's special boarding school fees and Bernette is the only one with an income."
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