IN PICS: A day in the life of the residents of Umhlabuyalingana
Two basic tasks - ironing three school shirts and boiling a few cups of water - take close to an hour without electricity. This is a daily reality for residents living in Empini, Umhlabuyalingana.
One of Phindile Mbonambi's nephews is getting ready for school. He fills a dish with boiling water he just got from a fire. Phindile and her family live in Empini, Umhlabuyalingana, South Africa's least electrified municipality. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey-Makhaza/Eyewitness News
A black sky still cloaks the village of Empini, Umhlabuyalingana, and the vast swathe of rolling dunes and dense scrub from which it rises, when the Mbonambi family first wakes.
Inside a slatted wooden hut on the homestead, dry branches crackle and an earthy scent hangs heavy.
The day starts with a fire.
The previous day, Londi Mbonambi, 22, trekked for several kilometres under the blistering heat of the mid-summer sun to gather the kindling.
Londi Mbonambi wipes the sweat dripping from her face as she collects wood a few kilometres from their home. The wood is used for fire to cook, boil water and heat their old fashioned coal iron. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey-Makhaza/Eyewitness News
Phindile Mbonambi’s daughters, Londi and Ntethelelo Mbonambi, collect wood a few kilometres from their home. The wood is used for fire to cook, boil water, and heat their old fashioned coal iron. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/Eyewitness News
In the meantime, 18-year-old Ntethelelo Mbonambi fetches a bucket of water from the Jojo tank on the periphery of the homestead, guided through the thick grass by the glow of a small torch.
The water is poured into a time-weathered pot which is carefully placed atop the fire. It’s a while before slender plumes of steam slowly begin to rise, and a while still before it eventually comes to a slow boil.
These two basic tasks - ironing three school shirts and boiling a few cups of water - take close to an hour without electricity.
This small solar panel is the only source of power in this home. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey-Makhaza/Eyewitness News
The municipality of Umhlabuyalingana is the least electrified in South Africa. At least 25% of the population doesn’t have access to electricity.
The village of Empini is one of the worst affected areas.
In Empini - which aptly translates to “at war” - life is fraught with hardship.
Forty-three-year-old traditional healer Phindile Mbonambi is the only breadwinner.
Sat on a straw mat on the floor - surrounded by jars and bottles of varying sizes and contents - her gaze is fixed on her granddaughter, who’s draped across her outstretched legs.
“My hope for the kids is that they become successful,” she says.
“I hope they make it out of here.”
She has lived here her whole life. It was her late grandparents' home, which she now shares with her two daughters, her granddaughter, and her cousin’s three children.
They struggle in school, she says, but she doesn’t blame them - they’re already tired by the time they get there, and they sometimes run late and wind up missing their first classes.
After years of empty promises, the people of Umhlabuyalingana have lost faith in government.
They say ahead of elections, they are visited by politicians who promise them a different life, but who disappear as soon as the polls shut.
The Mbonambi sisters walk back home with the wood collected for the day in Umhlabuyalingana, South Africa's least electrified municipality. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/Eyewitness News
WATCH: Life in Umhlabuyalingana, South Africa’s least electrified municipality