Woman thought home was being burgled but it was sinking into a hole

A Centurion woman on Tuesday said she never thought the home she bought with her hard-earned money would one day sink into the ground. She described the scenes as something you'd see in a game of “Jumanji”.

Chiraag Simão's family was one of five  affected by a 4m-deep sinkhole which developed in the early hours of Sunday morning in Burger Street, Lyttelton.

Her home was the worst affected by the sudden disaster in which she lost parts of her front yard, fence and wall.

Despite having to be evacuated with her children to her parents’ home in Johannesburg, she said she still wants to stay on the property. One of her biggest fears was having her home  being invaded by vagrants in her absence. 

“We want to make a plan to get access in the back. We want to stay on the property but not on the side near the sinkhole. Our children’s schools are there and so is our whole livelihood. We can’t leave everything behind and we are obviously paying bond. I am sad because I bought this house and never thought I would see it sinking into the ground,” she told TimesLIVE.

About 3am on Sunday, she and her husband were woken up by their tenant who lives in the front yard, alerting them that there could be a possible break-in as the wall was cracking.

“My husband first looked at the security footage and said the wall looked like it was falling down. When we went outside, we saw a big hole in the ground,” Simão said.

Simão’s children were sleeping in the house but her tenant’s two children, aged seven and five, had their property partly falling into the ground. They alerted the community group who suggested they leave the premises immediately.

“We realised we had to move before she and her children fell in. The fire brigade were there and they were helpful. ADT security started helping us to break the wall into our neighbour’s yard. Even the back neighbour was willing to break his wall so we could get onto the road. I managed to get out with my children and the animals. We went to my parents in Johannesburg. My husband decided to stay behind to make sure everyone was out,” she told TimesLIVE.

Anel Grobler said she heard what sounded like a gunshot, only to hear from her neighbour Simão that there was a hole in the ground.

She said when help arrived, she offered her own grinder for her wall to be broken to help her neighbours get out. Parts of Grobler’s gate had also deeply fallen into the hole while her driveway was left with a large crack.

“People don’t realise that another crack formed last night [Monday] and about 9am on Tuesday, another piece of the road fell into the ground. Probably by Wednesday, another part outside will be gone. I am more scared for the people than for myself,” she said.

While the community was left without electricity and water, they supported each other with essentials and by breaking parts of their walls to make a walkway for affected neighbours.

The City of Tshwane provided water tankers, said DA ward 57 councillor David Farquharson.

However, due to the unprotected municipal workers’ strike and a cable theft incident which left parts of the area with no power, it was uncertain when the city would be able to start working on the sinkhole.

“We need people to switch on the power and the switching team are not working at the moment. A lot of stuff is needed to properly block off the area as those things are locked inside the depots and the people who are striking won’t hand over the keys and won’t let people who want to work get the job done.

“I am proud of the residents but am sorry that we cannot get the problem sorted out. We have carried the message across to not give in to the strikers,” he said.