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At 6am on a Saturday morning, 43-year-old Luvhengo Vhulahani leaves her homestead in Tshakhuma village in Limpopo’s Makhado Municipality. It’s 8am when she returns. She walks slowly, balancing a heavy stack of firewood on her head.
As she approaches the yard, she slows her pace, exhausted. She knows her family is already hungry – especially the two-year-old child waiting at home.
Vhulahani walks to the back of the house, where meals are usually prepared in an open space under a tree. Her 74-year-old grandmother has already started a fire, with a large pot of water boiling over the flames. But they’re waiting on Vhulahani to start cooking.
According to Vhulahani, her grandmother struggles to make fires and cook because kneeling has become painful. She also fears the smoke from the fire, which worsens her eyesight.
“I am already feeling tired. I walked down from the Ha-Botha mountain to fetch additional firewood. I don’t wait until we have none left,” Vhulahani tells Health-e News. The mountain lies a few kilometres north of her homestead.
“After every trip I feel weak. I struggle to walk properly because of pain in my knees and back,” she adds.
More than a decade without electricity
Every three days, Vhulahani walks up the mountain to collect firewood because her household has had no electricity since 2014. That same year, she received an RDP house from the government; but electricity was never installed.
She lives with five other family members.
70 households in Tshikosi village, Tshakhuma, have been without electricity for years. Many residents told Health-e News they are forced to walk into mountainous areas known to have large, venomous snakes to collect firewood for cooking.
Ward 28 councillor Mbangiseni Maraga said Makhado Municipality promised last year that households would be electrified, but no timeline was provided.
“I have no other option than risking my life by going up the mountain,” says Vhulahani. “The social grant I receive every month cannot cover buying paraffin or installing solar power.”
To stretch their firewood supply, her family eats only two main meals a day – one in the morning and one in the evening. Sometimes they eat cold leftovers in the morning to avoid lighting another fire.
“Depending on the weather, food sometimes goes bad quickly, especially when it’s hot, and we have to throw it away,” she says.
Rain and darkness worsen hardships
Some residents told Health-e News that when it rains, they are forced to buy prepared food from nearby spaza shops, adding to their financial strain.
At night, some households rely on candles, while others use small rechargeable lights that must be charged at neighbours’ homes – another cost many struggle to afford.
A few metres from Vhulahani’s home lives 44-year-old Mulalo Godobedzha, a man living with a disability. On Health-e News’ visit, we find him sitting outside of his one-room house, listening to Phalaphala FM on a small Waxiba radio he bought five years ago.
Godobedzha lives alone. He said his wife returned to her parents’ home two years after they married because she could not cope with the living conditions.
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“It is very difficult for me to walk up the mountain regularly to fetch firewood,” he says. “I either use the firewood very sparingly, or I carry my food and walk two kilometres to cook at my parents’ place.”
Godobedzha survives on a disability grant and cannot afford to install solar power. He ensures his cellphone and a rechargeable light are fully charged.
“Every two days I have to walk to my parents’ home to charge my phone and the light, in case of emergencies,” he says.
Community calls for intervention
Ward 28 committee member Humbulani Victoria Nemutavhani and Thomas Ligaraba, chairperson of the Tshakhuma Community Development and Service Delivery organisation, are appealing to Makhado Municipality to urgently intervene.
“In 2024, households without electricity approached the municipality requesting installation,” says Nemutavhani. “They were told their turn is still far down the list.”
“This would go a long way in improving the lives of affected households.” – Health-e News
