Speaking to Sowetan a year after the devastating loss, Ndhlovu said her pain was unbearable as she could not even pay her last respects as she was also battling for her life against the dreadful disease in a hospital bed.
"My sisters had to come from as far as Giyani, Limpopo, to take care of the funeral arrangements.
"I was still in the hospital when they were buried. It was devastating to learn upon my discharge that my family had already been laid to rest,” she recalled, her voice heavy with grief.
Allegations are that the outbreak of cholera in Hammanskraal was a result of contaminated water from the Rooiwal wastewater plant which, according to minister of water and sanitation Senzo Mchunu, was “malfunctioning”.
According to Ndhlovu, the nurses told her when she was in hospital that “dirty water” was the reason she and her family had landed in hospital.
Since losing her loved ones to cholera, she no longer trusts the water coming out of her tap and uses the little money she has to buy water despite surviving on a grant and also taking care of Sylvia’s three children.
Constance Ndhlovu relives how she missed daughter, partner's burial due to cholera
A year later, the 63-year-old says the pain has been unbearable as she couldn’t pay her last respects
Image: Antonia Muchave/Sowetan
One day in May 2023, 63-year-old Constance Ndhlovu woke up not feeling well. The Hammanskraal woman had severe nausea, diarrhoea and was also vomiting.
Unbeknown to her, the situation would become worse as cholera spread in her township killing scores of people.
Sometime later that month, her life partner Johannes Mathosi, 63, who is the father of their daughter Sylvia Ndhlovu, also reported having the same symptoms.
The couple then went to the nearby Jubilee Hospital and Sylvia, who had started experiencing the same symptoms, joined them.
Unbeknown to Ndhlovu, that would be the last time she saw Mathosi and Sylvia as they both succumbed to cholera while she was fighting for her life in the hospital.
Ndhlovu never got a chance to bury them as she was battling the waterborne disease that claimed the lives of 28 Hammanskraal residents in May last year.
Speaking to Sowetan a year after the devastating loss, Ndhlovu said her pain was unbearable as she could not even pay her last respects as she was also battling for her life against the dreadful disease in a hospital bed.
"My sisters had to come from as far as Giyani, Limpopo, to take care of the funeral arrangements.
"I was still in the hospital when they were buried. It was devastating to learn upon my discharge that my family had already been laid to rest,” she recalled, her voice heavy with grief.
Allegations are that the outbreak of cholera in Hammanskraal was a result of contaminated water from the Rooiwal wastewater plant which, according to minister of water and sanitation Senzo Mchunu, was “malfunctioning”.
According to Ndhlovu, the nurses told her when she was in hospital that “dirty water” was the reason she and her family had landed in hospital.
Since losing her loved ones to cholera, she no longer trusts the water coming out of her tap and uses the little money she has to buy water despite surviving on a grant and also taking care of Sylvia’s three children.
"I now have to take the money that I saved to buy food just to buy a few litres of water," she said.
Today, all Ndhlovu is left with is memories of her loved ones.
The trio had dreams of renovating their home with their social grants and had already started the project.
However, the project has stalled as there’s no money.
Now, all that is left is a roof with no ceiling, exposed electricity wires and unpainted walls.
Sowetan revisits Hammanskraal after cholera ravaged the community
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