Celani Sikhakhane
After floods destroyed her home on Saturday evening for the second time this year, former KwaZulu-Natal ActionSA leader Dr Makhosi Khoza took to social media to share the pain and trauma of her experience.
In a lengthy post on her Facebook account, Khoza detailed the emotional despair at seeing her house ravaged after she had begun repairing it, revealing that she’s “beginning to lose the will to live.”
“Sometimes we mask our pain. We pretend as if everything is ok. I’m just going through the most difficult phase of my life. I have been betrayed, abused & used by those I trusted,” she began.
“As if that is not enough, I started fixing the flood damages to my property, now I’m back to square one.
A month after KZN was hit by the deadliest floods the province has seen since, flooding returned yet again on Saturday, destroying many houses which had managed to escape the rapids in April, and destroying some which had already been repaired.
“Right now, I’m not sleeping. I’m worried about [my children] Zama and Mlando. The rain is still pouring. I feel so helpless. It has not stopped. My house is in water.”
Fighting back tears, Khoza told Scrolla.Africa that she feels like nature has begun to collude in her problems, which began in March when she was forced to resign as eThekwini ActionSA councillor and the interim chair of the party in KZN.
“This time I’m a facing floods and they were not sent by anyone. It’s just the frustration and the pain I have been through. I ask myself ‘why is it happening to me?’” said Khoza.
Khoza’s letter ends on a painful note:
“I can no longer endure the relentless harsh blows that life keeps throwing at me.
“For the first time since 1998 when I lost my husband at age 28, I’m beginning to lose the will to live. I never thought I could crumble.”
Her house is located on the hillside in the suburbs of Hillcrest. It was first damaged by heavy water in 2020 after a pipe burst in her yard.
During the deadly floods in April this year, Khoza’s house, located on the hillside in the suburbs of Hillcrest, was badly damaged and her swimming pool was swept away.
After it was severely damaged again over the weekend, she says she is not planning to sell the property, but wants to fix the landscaping to avoid any future damage caused by natural disasters.
As the global climate crisis sees harsher floods occur more frequently every year, many people have been forced to think twice about buying or building high end homes in Durban.
