Trouble follows former inmate

JOYCE GREY
Correspondent | Friday March 12, 2010 00:00

 

Now a sickly man who hops from one family member to another, only to be booted out unceremoniously, he blames the government for his current woes.

Chilengwa is now staying with family member number three in Masunga after his grandmother said she could not afford to feed an extra mouth. He has also lived in Somerset with his cousins but they told him to leave the house since he was not contributing financially.

Now, in Masunga every morning he wakes up with trepidation because 'I may be told to move out again.'

In his heyday, Chilengwa used to be an able-bodied builder, but one day, what to him appeared to be a prank, turned out to be such a serious matter, it landed him in jail for a full year.

'They said I took a car that did not belong to me. But I really do not know what came over me that day because I do not even have a driving licence. I just do not know why I did that,' he said regretfully.

But entering jail in Mahalapye in 2006 was to be his first step on a roller coaster ride to the hardships that he is presently experiencing.

According to him, an inmate took a fancy to him, or in his words 'he wanted me to be his wife.' The spurned man used a sharp instrument to stab Kumbulani who bled internally. Apparently, an operation to heal the wound went horribly wrong as Kumbulani has never been the same again.

'Since then I haven't been able to fend for myself,' said Kumbulani.

When he came out of prison, Chilengwa approached the social workers who offered to help him from March 2008, but they told him that as of April this year, they are no longer going to help him.

While waiting for the social workers to close their doors on him, Kumbulani is subsisting through handouts from strangers.

Although he is now being sheltered by another relative in Masunga he is uncertain of what tomorrow holds for him.

'What hurts me most is that the prison officials in Mahalapye have not made any efforts to help me or to get in touch with me regarding my health. I cannot work. Any slight task leaves me sore all over the body. In fact, I become very sick,' he said.

Although it could not be verified, Chilengwa said social workers want him to work for The Drought Relief department and earn P360.

When he used to work as a builder he earned P2, 000 or more depending on the job he was doing. He used to work for Altina and Ketogetswe Company but due to the financial crisis he was one of the unlucky ones to be retrenched.

'Ketogetswe used to call me for piece jobs but due to ill health, he can no longer do so because I cannot manage,' he said.

'I am of no help to my family and they no longer want to live with me. My future is destroyed and the government cannot help me. If they stop giving me a destitute ration, I do not know what I am going to do,' said Chilengwa.