On the 15th August, in the Bushbuckridge Magistrates court, there was no space to sit at. Outside protesters were singing and marching. On their faces, drips of sweat fell to the ground. The protestors were asking the magistrate that the suspects should not be given bail.

The three suspects– Patrick Floyd Mokoena, 58; his son, Sidney Toto Mokoena, 33; and Sidney’s friend, Mjojo Justice Ndubane, 28 –were arrested between 13 and 14 August 2008. They are accused of killing Clarence Brown, 25, on 23 February 2008.

According to the police, Floyd approached his son, Toto, and told him that he urgently needed human body parts to make his four businesses generate money quickly.

This is not unusual. People die everyday around South Africa for their body parts, used for muthi or sold for money. Many people believe that human parts have the power to make someone rich, especially if the victim was screaming while being mutilated. It is said that when the person cries, he’s calling customers to come to your business. There is even a story that people tell about a young boy who was mutilated while still alive, and then his murderers scooped out his brains.

In their confession to the police, Toto, Floyd Mokoena’s son, admitted to asking his friends to help him fulfill his father’s wish. The body parts were supposed to be that of a family member. Toto, Justice and Simon Nkosi, then went in search of Brown, who was returning from a tavern. Brown was Floyd’s nephew and Toto’s cousin. The suspects laid in wait for the victim at a bridge he was to pass on his way home. When Brown arrived at the bridge, he saw a car that was familiar to him, and the occupants offered him a lift. He did not reach his destination because according to the accused, they cut off his private parts, heels, and removed his brains while he was still alive. All of this happened inside Toto’s vehicle, a blue Venture. The three suspects threw the victim in the middle of the road and ran over him, making it look like it was a hit-and-run. The suspects claim they were assaulted and forced to confess to the murder. The investigating officers denied laying a hand on them.

When Brown’s sister, Divine was asked how she felt about this whole incident, she answered with a flood of tears, while holding her brother’s picture.

“This is shocking. Your own uncle doing this to you. I hope they all rot in jail,” said one of the protesters. According to Captain Hlathi, the three were arrested whilst sitting and relaxing at their homes. “They were thinking that their evil deeds had gone unnoticed,” said Hlathi. They were remanded in custody until 26 August 2008, when they would appear again in court for the bail hearing. On the 21 August, the police exhumed the body for further investigations.

On the set date, the accused appeared again in court for their hearing. M.R. Mashiloane represented the defendants. They all repeated their claims that they were assaulted when arrested; That is why, they say, they admitted to killing Brown. Floyd Mokoena said, “This is a political issue. The Chief is angry because I’m no longer a member of the ANC, and that I disrespected him during a family meeting.”

It took six days for the bail hearing to be finalized, during which Mashiloane asked to be excused because of the threats on his life and family. Advocate P.J. Laurens took over the representation of the accused. He tried his best to get them bail, but at the end of the day, the decision was left to the magistrate.

The state said that it couldn’t grant the accused bail because it was afraid “They would not see sunset.” He further said that the community of Oakley was very angry. The deceased’s family cried with joy. Floyd’s family was sad, but there was nothing they could do. The supporters outside were ecstatic when they heard the defendants were denied bail.

Whether the accused did kill Brown for his body parts, or it was politically related, it’s up to the State to prove it, defense to convince the state, and the magistrate to decide. The date for the trial is set for 7 November 2008.

Written by Thandi Mkhatwsha

A shortage of books and libraries in Acornhoek schools is a big problem. Teachers use a single copy to teach overcrowded classes. But the Books for Peace Library Project has changed the situation. “I run a girl’s club at Ndabeni primary school, and I have gotten to know the school over this past year, “ said Rose Zulliger, a United States Peace Corps volunteer and the founder of the Books for Peace Library Project. “I noticed that they didn’t have many books and they were using photocopied pages from academic books. This made it very difficult for the teachers to instill a love of reading within the learners. I wanted to help the teachers to have the resources to help their learners.”

With the help of 24 Peace Corps volunteers, The Books for Peace Library Project has delivered 30,000 books to 30 schools throughout South Africa, eight of which are here in Acornhoek. The schools who each received 1000 books are Chayiwe, Funjwa, Mugidi, Ndabeni, Maotole, Motlamogale, Phatsedi primary schools and Shobiyani Secondary School. “Growing up, I went to the library all the time. That is how I began to love to read and to learn,” Rose explained. “For me, it is very important that children here in Acornhoek have that same experience. I want them to enjoy the process of learning. It’s not fun to read academic books, but if they can find a good storybook, it can help them to begin to love to read. But also, it can help them to feel comfortable with English.”

The schools can’t help but express their gratitude. “We are so grateful to have received the books,” explained Thembi Ngwenya, a school principal at Mugidi Primary School. “Children were reading books provided for lessons only, but now they will be able to pick and choose their own favourites from the library. Who knows, maybe one day some of the learners might get inspired and become authors themselves.”

“The only way children can learn to do something properly is if they practice doing it everyday,” said Ms. Mkhonto, a schoolteacher who runs a reading club at Ndabeni Primary School. “Reading these books everyday will turn them into better readers.”

Even the learners are very excited. One student said, “I’ve always loved to read stories, but I have never had the opportunity. The books will help a great deal.”

The Books for Peace Library Project has provided the schools with a basic foundation that will benefit teachers and learners. Of course, challenges still exist, but now at least the children have the chance to access good books in their school libraries.

“We were all happy to go on the school trip. Little did we know that it would end like this,” said Thabang Makgato, the president of Ditau High School, who was also on the tour. The school was quiet, except for one or two students outside. All the school pupils were then called to the assembly area. They walked with their shoulders slumped, with no laughter to tell that this school was a happy place.
Mrs. Coleman, the MEC of education in Mpumalanga, comforted them the only way a mother knows how. “This is something that each and every one of us is going to pass through. Life is not something that is held by human hands. Praise the Lord, knowing that you’ve been given more days. Kamogelo is no more. Thank the Almighty for letting you know him. Pray that through God’s divine intervention, He might make you strong through all the challenges,” she said.
On Saturday, 30 August 2008, the kids were happy to be going on a school trip. They went to all the tourist attractions around Graskop. According to Thabang, they ended up at the Mac-Mac pools, just downstream of the 65m high Mac Mac Falls (a national monument). This is where tragedy struck. While all the children were busy swimming, Kamogelo Sehlabela decided to join in the fun. He dove into the pool, and it looked as if he could swim. “We don’t know what happened, but his head didn’t come out of the water,” said Thabang. The kids tried to help him, but they were unable. Finally, a man who was there on vacation managed to fish him out. The teachers and the unknown tourist tried to resuscitate him by applying mouth-to-mouth, but that didn’t work. They rushed him to the nearest hospital, but it was too late.
Kamogelo’s parents, teachers and friends were finding it hard to come to terms with his passing. His father, Mr. Sehlabela said that the night before the trip, he had a dream. “In this dream, my boy was in a deep pool. I asked him if he could swim because I’d never seen him do that before, and he said ‘yes’! I think it was a premonition.” Mr. Sehlabela’s brows came together as if remembering something. “He wanted to be a traffic cop, you know.” Kamogelo was the first-born, and parents were proud of him. Lonick Mkhonto, one of the deceased’s friends is devastated by what happened to his friend. Although they only met at school, they were very close. His death came as a shock to Lonick. “I’m sad. I was looking forward to spending more years with him,” he said.
Kamogelo’s parents are not the only ones who lost someone, the Department of Education also did. According to the MEC, he still had an important role to play in the economy of South Africa.
In this country, more and more school kids are dying from violence-related circumstances, or suicide. In August, a boy in Klerksdorp was hacked to death with a Samurai sword by another student. When the MEC was asked how she feels about the high rate of deaths in schools, she said, “Like a parent that I am, it is not easy to lose a child in any way, especially unforeseen circumstances. Any violence is unacceptable for the schools.” She called on the community to find out where we have lost our values. She also said that we need moral regeneration and cleansing. “Let’s question the way we raise our children,” she insisted.
Mr. Sehlabela still has children that are alive and well, but no one will ever replace his first-born son. “He was my pride and joy, and now he is gone forever,” he concluded.

Written By Bongekile Mhlanga

The Dumbwaiter Restaurant is situated at the Wildlife Estate in Hoedspruit. It caters mostly to the white community that is found in town, and in the surrounding farms. The staff, dedicated to pleasing their clients, work at both the restaurant (downstairs) and the bar (downstairs).

But all was not as cool as it seemed, the management and staff were at loggerheads over staff accommodation. The employees said that their bosses promised them accommodation in their first contract. “But now they are evicting us,” said one of the workers. They claim they were not given enough time to look for alternative accommodation. The black staff also said that their white counterparts have nice apartments, while they have to squeeze into one room. Sometimes one room is shared by three adults where there is no privacy. “We are not being treated fairly,” concluded the employee.

The staff even tried to get the courts to stop management from evicting them. But management had a different story. Allen Hoffman, the manager of the whole Pick ’n Pay complex, said, “The contract said that accommodation would be allocated per shift. For those whose hours go on until midnight, they would get overnight accommodation, but people slowly, gradually turned this place into a permanent residential area.” He added that they are evicting the employees for their own safety. The place they are staying in right now is a storeroom. The rooms are too small to be shared by three adults. And according to Hoffman, the workers are lying when they said they were not given enough time to find alternative accommodation. In fact, they were given 21 days to search for another place to stay.

The workers have stayed on the restaurant’s premises since early 2007. According to Hoffman, they allowed the workers to live there before, but the new Occupational Health and Safety Act, effective in 2007, forbids it. Allen’s management team had plans to build a staff village at the neighboring residential wildlife estate, but the estate is now under different management, and they are unable to fulfill the previous manager’s accommodation plans.

Written By Constance Rahlane

It is almost every woman’s dream to be paid lobola. Some women think lobola gives them respect and dignity. Others think it strengthens love and proves that their man is serious about their relationship. But what happens if a marriage fails and the man demands his lobola money back? This is not any woman’s dream at all. Precious Nziyani, 37, is living this nightmare after her eight-year marriage to her husband, Duma, failed.

Precious never thought her marriage would end in disaster, after Duma paid her family R3000 and three cows for her lobola in 1990. At first, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. “I never thought we could break up,” said Precious, taking a deep breath. “Everything was very beautiful; everyone was jealous of us.” The love started to die when another woman got inside their love circle. “He began to hit me and to come home in the early hours of the morning,” she said. However, the beating and cheating didn’t stop Precious from loving Duma. Even when he came home in the morning and hit her, she didn’t ask where he had been. “As a woman, I was taught not to be jealous of my husband’s behaviour, and it made him angry when I didn’t question his movement. He thought I didn’t care because [he thought] I was cheating,” she said. Duma soon impregnated another woman and took the mistress to live with his mother.

Precious’s silence didn’t stop the abuse. It continued until one horrible day when Duma crossed the line, and she said enough was enough. Precious remembers that day like yesterday although it has now been ten years since it happened. “I was busy cooking in the kitchen when I saw him come in with a young woman,” she recalled. Duma told Precious to move out of their room with their two year-old-son and sleep in the other room. He wanted to sleep with his new sweetheart. But Precious refused. She told them to go and sleep at his mother’s house like he used to. They did leave the house, and Duma came back later to apologize. She forgave him, not knowing the devil he had become. Later that evening, he asked her to walk with him to the bush, where he wanted to relieve himself. “When we arrived there, he changed. He pulled me into the big bushes. He started to kick me and hit me with thorny sticks, saying I don’t respect him,” she said.

Precious said Duma hit her until the early hours of the morning, when he took her back to their home and locked her inside with their son before going to work. Precious said she was rescued by her neighbour who heard the screaming of a baby, and knocked to discover the cause of the crying. Precious then screamed for help, and the neighbour broke down the door and took her to the hospital, where she was admitted for four days. Nevertheless, Precious refused to lay charges against Duma.

When she was released from the hospital, she went to live with her parents. Duma then sent people to beg her to come back to his home, although when she was in the hospital he never came to see her. Precious refused, remembering the beating and feeling her bruises.

With the marriage destroyed, Duma sent people to get a refund for his lobola, claiming he wanted to use it for another woman. But Precious’s parents refused, saying that they are not a bank, which saves money for eight years. Precious said Duma’s family got involved: they reported Precious to the induna (advisor to the chief). “When love dies, it’s very hard. It’s not like when it starts with two people. Lots of family members get involved,” said Precious. She won the battle at the induna because Duma was the person who caused the break-up. But that didn’t satisfy Duma. He went to Precious’s home, took their son, and ran away with him. However, a police order forced him to return the child. Precious said Duma also quit his government job, saying he does not want to pay maintenance for their son.

Now Precious is married to another man and has two children from the new marriage. Meanwhile she wishes that her parents had returned Duma’s money because every time he sees her, he reminds her that she is still his wife as his lobola has not been returned.

Even though many men like Duma think it is necessary to demand their lobola back after a marriage fails, Piet Nguma, 33, from Casteel disagrees, although his former wife and mother of his two kids left him for another man. “I didn’t ask her parents to bank the money for me. I paid it because I wanted their blessing for our marriage,” he said. Piet paid R5000, and spent eight years with his ex-wife. He never expected the marriage to end, but it did after he went to work in Johannesburg. When he came back home, his house was empty, no wife and children. “I was furious. I used to call her, but she never told me that she had moved in with another man. When I went to his home, I didn’t find her. I only found my kids,” he recalls. His parents told him she went to work at a lodge and lives there. But he heard through rumours that she was living with another man there. She confirmed the rumours by ending the marriage over the phone.

Piet said he never thought of demanding his lobola money back. Although it has been fourteen months since he separated from his wife, he is still hurting and has decided not to go back to Johannesburg. He wants to be close to his kids. Because she made him a proud father of two, he does not want his lobola money back. “She gave me two heads. I will always be grateful for that. Because of the that she dumped me, I won’t forgive her and wish her all the worst in her new relationship,” he admitted.

While some couples split up, others are just happy as ever, and they can’t think of anything that will come in their way. John and Lily Mathebula, 35 and 34, have been married for eleven years and have three kids. John paid lobola in 2002. He did it because he wanted to tighten his relationship with his in-laws and prove his love for his wife. However, if his wife left him to be with another man, he wouldn’t hesitate to demand his money back the same day. “If she went to live with another man, that guy would have to return my money or else there would be a big fire, and no one would be able to extinguish it,” said John in a deep voice. John said he wouldn’t demand it if they separated for other reasons.

Lobola is a well-known tradition of African culture, uniting and strengthening a relationship between two people who love each other and their families. But it does not always guarantee that marriage will last forever.

Written By Lydia Ngomane and Constance Rahlane

From 22-26 September, people from different villages in Bushbuckridge Municipality flocked to Acornhoek, to queue in the line for the Phelophepa Train, a seSotho word for Good Clean Health. Everyone waited to be examined at an affordable price. People have been waiting for their health train to come for more than a year because, since it started in 1994, the train comes once, every other year. Now it sees more than 45,000 patients in a year across four provinces, all in rural areas. “It gives insight of how rural people live,” said Magdeline Ntikinca, deputy manager of Phelophepa, from Eastern Cape.

Phelophepa works with last year’s medical students from all the universities in South Africa, and also local retired nurses. “They never want money because they know what we give them is more than money will provide,” said Magdeline. The students are offered practical job experience, traveling, and free food. Phelophepa has five clinics: eye, health, psychology, dental, and medicine. It also has free one week health education courses for 16 people, sponsored by St. John Ambulance.

Not only does the Phelophepha train help sick victims, but it also empowers local people by giving them employment as cleaners, translators, labourers and other positions during its presence. Musa Mnisi and Goodwill Makhubela from Timbavati village, who both worked in registry, said Phelophepa gave them the opportunity to help their community. Goodwill was given a bracelet by an old woman, thanking him for his services. “I wish the train could come every year because there are a lot of sick people,” said Musa.

It also brings smiles to Magdeline every day to sees the train achieving its main purpose. “It is a fulfilling job. At the end of the day, I am happy knowing that I am doing something to help rural villages.”

Villagers could should have even more hope because Phelophepa is planning to build another train before 2020. It may seem very far, but time passes like water.

Written By Thandi Mkhatshwa

On a Thursday morning, the sky is so clear, and yet there is a cool enough breeze to freeze the cheeks and cause a runny nose. After all, it is almost the end of winter and the start of a new season, spring. Excitement is what this day holds for more than 161 Greenvalley Primary School learners from grades R through 3, five to eight years old. Boys are wearing grey pants with white shirts, while others are in maroon tracksuits and yellow shirts. The girls, in maroon socks, dresses and ties with yellow stripes, are carrying backpacks. Along with twenty teachers and members of the School Governing Body (SGB), the learners enter the Acornhoek Railway station gate. Footsteps, whispers and laughter linger in everyone’s ears. At long last, the day they have been waiting for is finally here.

“We are going on a school trip to Hoedspruit,” says Mr. Khosa, a schoolteacher holding an exercise book containing a list of pupil names. “None of the learners have seen the inside of a train before, but, today, for the very first time, they are going to experience what it’s like to ride on it.”

It seems that it’s not only the children excited by the thought of the trip. Just a few steps away from Mr.Khoza, another teacher is standing with his arms folded. “The children are not the only ones who have never been on a train before,” Mr. Manganyi confesses with a smile, looking at the children in front of him. “I have never ridden on a train. Even my children have been on a train ride, but never me. It is going to be my first experience, too.”

The preparations continue. The female teachers now have their hands full. The learners are moving around uncontrollably, and a teacher tries to discipline them with no success. Their chats become loud. More teachers join in to try to get them to behave, but their efforts go unheard. As the teachers start to group the learners in one spot, they notice something strange. There are more learners than the actual number that has paid for the journey.

It was impossible to spot the ones that hadn’t paid. The clerk who was responsible for registering the learners lost the original list of all the pupils that paid. The one that the teachers have is not one hundred percent accurate; however, they have no choice but to use it. One by one, the teachers call the names of the learners appearing in the book to step aside. In the middle of this, some of the learners who have not yet been called run to the other side to join the ones who were called. This makes the teachers upset because now they have to start over and over again. The learners continue to jump groups.

Through all that, the educators manage to spot one of the suspects amongst the groups. “Albert! Did you pay?” one woman tries to inquire. “No, Albert, I don’t remember ever seeing you pay or seeing your name on the list.” Albert, with his hands in his pockets and his head facing down, responds, “Yes, I paid,” mumbling. But the teacher does not believe him, and she continues to ask her colleagues. None of them recognized him on the list. She returns to him again. “Everyone, show me your pocket money. Everyone shows the teacher their paper money, but Albert pops out R1.50. “Is that all you have!” Now in shock, the teacher says, “I knew it! You didn’t pay! That is your pocket money for school, not to come on the trip.” Shame hits the learner as the teacher catches up with his tactics, and he gives up on his argument. “I guess my grandmother didn’t pay for me after all.”

It is almost 9 a.m. The educators have now managed to identify some of the learners hoping to catch a free ride. It’s almost time for the train to arrive. Eyes start to wander in the direction of the train. The ground starts to vibrate. From a distance, something that looks like the train is spotted. Everyone gets excited. But before it gets even closer, the clerk who was supposed to sell them tickets at the station comes to talk to the educators and the principal. She announces something that shocks everyone. “The train will not be coming today,” she explains, in a soft humble tone. “A cable got stolen in Hazyview early this morning. I am so sorry for the inconvenience.”

Disappointment now shows on every teacher’s face. Everyone goes quiet, fearing how the parents are going to react if the trip gets postponed. While they are still thinking of a solution, what looked like a train passes the station. It is only the driver’s car that was going to pick up the passenger cars, but now is returning to Hoespruit because it is unable to pass Hazyview. The children watch with anticipation as it passes, but there is nothing that can be done about it.

In the end, the teachers decide to use the bus that originally took them from their school to the station. The learners are escorted to the bus once again, and this time to the final destination of their trip, Hoedspruit.

The learners saw some animals along the way, like monkeys, impalas, and giraffe; got to learn more about busses at the Hoedspruit bus depot; got to touch different kinds of snakes at the snake park; and even got to see a full view of the beautiful Moholoholo mountain range and the Blyde river inside the canyon.. However, nothing could wipe away their disappointment. The children’s disenchantment at not getting their first ride on a train will forever remain in the back of their minds.

It’s not everyday one meets a person wanting to freely disclose their HIV/AIDS status to the rest of the world. Many people aren’t brave enough. But today, I felt very honoured and humbled to have had the privilege of meeting a gentleman who isn’t afraid to share his life long story. “I was diagnosed with HIV in 1999, at a time when really things like these were hardly known,” said Oupa Ngoveni, a tall, dark man with a short, shiny haircut and trimmed beard.

Oupa Ngoveni, 27, was in standard nine when his problem started. He was constantly in and out of school due to the illness that eventually landed him in the hospital for a long period of time. He had lost a huge amount of weight. And his community members talked about him behind his back, saying if he had TB, he had AIDS because ‘TB and AIDS are best friends’. The rumours inspired Ngoveni to get himself tested at the hospital. “I was not scared to get tested because I counselled myself before doing it. I had accepted the fact that the results may come back positive,” Ngoveni said. He discovered that he was indeed HIV positive.

Ngoveni’s family was not pleased with the outcome. “It was very hard for them to accept this. I remember my family didn’t want anything to do with me anymore,” Mr. Ngoveni explained, speaking softly as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. “They didn’t want to stay with me or let me sit with them on the sofas. I wasn’t allowed to even eat from the same plates as them. My family fully isolated me, fearing that I would infect them with my HIV. I didn’t know how to handle it.”

His family’s attitude didn’t change; it only got worse and to a point where a social worker had to move him away from them. She placed him in an RDP house in Mkhuhlu, where he has been living ever since. “Up until now, my family hasn’t come around, ” he said. However, Ngoveni did not let this get him down. He went on to attend several workshops on HIV/AIDS, and also went on to attend a four-month training course on voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) with NAPO in Nelspruit.

The workshops helped Ngoveni accept his condition and gather enough courage to disclose his HIV status to his church. He also went on to disclose his status to his community during an HIV campaign hosted on World AIDS Day in 2001. The treatment he got from people served as an inspiration to come out and educate people on HIV/AIDS. “People from my own church started to hate me. My friends and girlfriend ran way from me. Even when I went to use a public phone, the people who were behind me didn’t want to use it anymore because I had touched it, ‘the person with AIDS’.”

Mr. Ngoveni is now on a mission. He wants to reach out to all the pastors from different churches to hold HIV education workshops. He believes that pastors are the keys to reach out to people. “ Pastors are like our parents. If they accept people who have HIV in their churches, many people will follow suit. But if that doesn’t happen, then many people will be lost without information about the virus,” he explained.

He is a little worried about what some pastors say to people who have tested positive. “Some pastors advise people who are taking ARV’s to stop taking them because they say HIV is a demon, and only needs a prayer or fasting or vava faka xipeyiti, and many people die because of that. The pastors forget that the virus is not in the intestine but in the blood, and it is impossible to remove the virus. That is why I am trying to get to people out there.”

Ngoveni even has a strong message to people who stigmatize others because of their HIV status. “Don’t think because you haven’t tested for HIV, you are hundred percent okay,” he advised. “Treat people who are infected with respect, and don’t go around spreading rumous because that can destroy the person you are gossiping about. Any person who is HIV positive is just the same as any ordinary human being.”

Mr. Ngoveni has been living a positive life. Though he is infected with the virus, he hasn’t given up on life, as many people tend do when they discover their HIV status. “I tested positive in 1999. All of that time, I was only taking Bactrim, until this year when I started to take ARV’s. My weight is back to normal again because I am not misbehaving, and I am taking my medication on time,” Ngoveni explained.

Ngoveni volunteers at Tintswalo Hospital and works at the Bushbuckridge Consortium, a non-profit organization that dedicates its time and services to people who are affected by HIV/AIDS. “Being HIV positive doesn’t mean you are going to die,” he advised. “You still have a long way to go before that happens because God is the only one who knows when you are going to die.”

Written By Linky Matsie

It was a very windy, cold day. Every person walking on the street was wearing warm clothes. Half of the people of Morekeng community in Acornhoek were gathered at the soccer ground. Irene Maatjie, a ward councilor, and Chikane, an Eskom employee, were present. The meeting started with a prayer by one of the residents.

The councilor greeted everyone and explained why they were there. She said that many houses in Morekeng have no electricity and have been using solar power for years. “You have been living in the dark for years now, but from 19 August 2008, many houses will have lights,” Maatjie said. All the people clapped their hands. She continued that the solar panels would have to be returned as they were on loan from the municipality. “We must take them back, so that we can lend them to other people who need them,” she said.

The Morekeng community has remained undeveloped while other communities were supplied with electricity. It has been on a waiting list to get electricity for years. Eskom is worried that thieves will steal the cables used to install electricity. Chikane is asking the community to work together with Eskom by looking after the supplies. He said that the cables will be installed under the ground, so every house that needs lights must dig the line where Eskom will work.

Many people think it is a good idea that the cables will be underground and have agreed to dig the hole with pleasure. Elphas Tsebogo, a resident of Morekeng and a “civic” (community leader), praises the fact that the cables will be underground. “It is going to reduce the problem that we have been facing as leaders. Boys have been cutting the cables around Brooklyn and its nearby communities,” he said.

Aron Mohlolo, a resident of Morekeng, expresses how excited he is. “We have been living in the dark for years, and I thought we were never going to have electricity,” he exclaimed. He said that life is difficult without electricity. “Before I came to Morekeng, I was living with my parents in Boelang, where electricity was supplied a long time ago, but I had to build my own house in Morekeng,” Mohlolo said.

Mohlolo is not the only person who is happy about getting electricity. Lesedi Dilebo, a mother of three working on a farm in Hoedspruit, said that her life will be easier when they have electricity. “I struggled everyday when I woke up because it was dark outside, and I didn’t have a choice but to go out and make a fire,” explained Dilebo. She added that when it was raining, it was very hard because the firewood was wet and she didn’t have anything to use to cook.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the community of Morekeng walked back to their houses with happy faces. One woman shouted at her neigbour telling her the good news that they had received. “Where were you? We are going to be supplied with electricity, and we won’t have to go to fetch firewood anymore!”

Many people go to bed worrying about food, money, and what they are going to do the next day. Most could never imagine waking up in the middle night to the sound of a car crashing into their house. This nightmare happened to the Moele family in the early morning of Saturday, 23 August.

The Moele family is well known in Acornhoek. They are the business owners of supermarkets in Township community. They went to sleep on Friday, 22 August happy. Around 3 a.m., Beatrice Moele, mother of the family, heard a terrible scary noise. “I thought it was a boom. Maybe thieves want to steal,” she said. Through her daughter’s open door, she saw a hole in the wall and in the hole, a white bakkie. Three men were still inside the bakkie.

She said that her mind was only thinking of her daughter, Katlego, who is in her 20’s and was sleeping in that room. “I was relived to see my daughter walking in the passage of the house,” she said.

Katlego thought that she was dreaming when she heard the loud noise. “I was surprised to see a bakkie in my room when I uncovered my blanket,” Katlego explained. According to her, the driver was sleeping and going fast. She checked the car inside and the speedometer was stuck at 120 km per hour. There was no sign, she said, ing that he tried to stop the car. “I think he woke up when he heard the noise.”

Before the car crashed into Katlego’s room, it drove through the homestead’s brick wall fence and iron poles. The bakkie managed to break the window and the wall of the house. Luckily no one was injured.

Soon after, neighbours and relatives arrived at the Moele house to witness the aftermath of the accident. Everyone was very surprised and scared. “We are grateful that no one was injured. Your house will be fixed by the person who nearly killed your child,” said one woman who was looking at the house with fear. One young boy said that the river drove the bakkie into the house on purpose. “They are just jealous. They wish they can have as beautiful a house as the Moele house,” said the boy.

The car had a Great North Transport sticker on it. When the Villager contacyed Great North they did not want to comment.

Director Mashego of Acornhoek Police Station said that in a case where cars crash into a house, the police don’t arrest that person. The driver would have to pay the damage that he caused on the property because he was negligent and reckless.

The family is grateful that no one was injured. On most nights, Katlego’s two younger sisters usually sleep with her in the room where the vehicle crashed. They themselves don’t even know why they decided to sleep their own rooms that night.