QWAQWA – Bad weather with heavy snowfall caused untold damage in the local municipality of Maluti-a-Phofung (MAP) but gave others a moment to play in the snow and find a silver lining during this snowcapped weekend.
In the absence of a cherry picker and the delay in getting the crane truck replaced, there was a very significant delay in repairs throughout Qwaqwa and some wards spent the weekend without electricity.
To make matters worse the weekend of 21 to 22 September saw heavy snowfall cause damage to people’s property.
“If you will excuse me for getting cross, in the middle of this horrible situation the mayor is rallying the community to pick up rubbish. I wish she would put her mind to issues that will cause untold misery. My shed collapsed. It was inconvenient as I had a fair amount of animal feed in it, I had to try to salvage what I could safely take out.
“Much of it is wet, so it must be used before it decomposes. I think we had a disproportionate amount of snow here, and that is why the roof couldn’t cope,” Alison Oates who is an MAP councillor and resident of Harrismith said to this publication.
Daniel Moloi, a community leader from Makwane village, said: “The weather was very bad. The weight of the snow pulled down the roofing. It’s a great loss, we need anyone who can assist to reconstruct the whole roof. This is a church building that holds community programmes and events so this is a very sad situation for us.”
Dyke Mbuli with his children after building a snowman at their home in Phuthaditjhaba over the weekend.
On the other hand, other residents like Dyke Mbuli shared that despite exhibiting flu symptoms, this was the first time that his children got to experience snow and building a snowman.
“I have experienced snows in the past, my kids are the ones who really appreciated the opportunity and were so surprised as to how God manages to manufacture snow. For me this was a flu invitation ceremony and as a crop farmer I can only expect a great harvest after this.”
