Unbearable pain of fending for themselves

Thuli had almost left her pain behind when a neighbour cut the noose from her neck.

The 26-year-old was dangling from a tree - she had given up, she could not bear seeing her five brothers and sisters endure so many hardships.

Thuli, from Willowfontein in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, had to take charge of their home and her siblings aged 19, 16, 15, 13 and four when both parents died.

"I was hanging from the tree when a neighbour saw me and cut the rope," she said tearfully.

Every Saturday, Thuli and her four sisters go to shopping centres and traffic lights to beg. The R750 grant she receives is not enough. The money goes towards patching school uniforms, school shoes and food.

"We connect electricity illegally from our neighbours. We fetch water from the nearby river and the outside toilet has been full for months," said Thuli who could not finish school.

Five kilometres away from Thuli's family mud structure lives the Made family. All 11 of them live in an RDP home with two beds and three sofas.

The family gets a R1400 foster grant . The nine males work on weekends and holidays mowing the lawn at a nearby suburb and on taxis as conductors.

There might just be hope for the struggling family. President Jacob Zuma's first wife, Sizakele Khumalo, has promised to build them a fully furnished eco-friendly home this month.

"I will probably faint when we move into the house. And I know that I will for weeks be thanking God that we finally have a house," said one of Thuli's siblings.