GOGO ALICE was lying back on her mattress, relaxing after her bath.
She didn’t know that death was staring down at her from the roof of her double garage.
AND IF IT WASN’T FOR HER SPONGE MATTRESS AND HER BED, GOGO ALICE WOULD BE DEAD TODAY!
Gogo Alice Masiya (75) of Malubane Village outside Mkhuhlu near Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, told Daily Sun she was lying on the mattress on Monday at around 7pm when the walls and the roof collapsed on her. “It happened very quickly. Suddenly I found myself buried under the clay tile roof and the bricks from the wall of the garage,” she said.
“The roof and a large part of the walls got trapped by the bed from crushing me.”
She said her leg and her head were injured by pieces of clay tiles and bricks.
“I thought I was dead,” said gogo Alice.
Gogo’s daughter Marry Malamule (35) said she and her three girls were outside cooking mealies when they heard the wall and roof collapsing.
“We heard mum screaming for help as they roof crumbled down after the wall. We rushed to rescue her, but she was buried under the bricks,” she said.
“We managed to get her out from under the rubble. She was bleeding badly and she couldn’t walk. She shouted at neighbours who came running.”
She said they called in Ward Councillor Bio Mpangane and Community Development worker Sibongile Ndlovu who arrived and rushed mum to Matikwane Hospital. She said the councillor and the worker helped clear some of the rubble.
Neighbour Buyisile Ndlovu said gogo Alice and her family don’t have IDs as they are originally from Mozambique.
“No one is working, so we are calling on business people and leaders to help the family as they have nothing,” she said.
“All the furniture, the cutlery, the food and even her house are damaged.”
Councillor Mpangane said they spent the night and the following morning at the house after they heard about the accident.
“We have talked to Disaster Management from the Bushbuckridge Municipality as well as social workers for counselling, food and temporary shelter while working out a way to help the gogo.”
Calcutta Victim and Empowerment Programme social worker Nokuthula Mashaba said the family’s receiving counselling.
