This story really made me cry. I feel so for this woman, and can not even begin to understand why she is in the state she is in
April 25 2003 at 11:41PM
By Xolani Mbanjwa
Baffled motorists travelling the M13 highway past the ritzy hilltop suburb of Kloof have become aware of an unusual landmark under a grove of towering gum trees bordering the road - a well-dressed woman who has lived out in the open for the past six months.
The woman, in her mid-30s, lives, eats and sleeps without any shelter and exists solely on grocery handouts from concerned residents.
The woman never says a word to anyone, never begs for food or money and has no friends. She simply sits by the roadside watching the traffic passing by, come rain, shine or the area's traditional mist clouds. Now her continued and inexplicable presence has got locals and welfare officials completely flummoxed.
A homeless local, Mbuzeni Ndlovu, says: "I have lived in Kloof for six months and in all that time this woman has never moved, not even when it's pouring with rain. She just puts a plastic bag over her head until the downpour ends.
"Motorists stop and hand her groceries and that's all she seems to survive on."
When photographer Puri Devjee and I paid her a visit, the woman didn't move. She didn't even look at us. She was eating an apple.
A small blanket, which holds all her belongings, was on her lap next to a pile of rubbish. We spent 30 minutes with her. The sad-eyed woman didn't speak or move during that time, but simply stared straight ahead.
One Kloof resident said she was astonished that the woman "has never moved from her spot since I first noticed her a few weeks ago.
"I have never seen her begging for money or food... it's as though she has given up on living and doesn't care about anything - including herself."
As the chilling winter season approaches, residents fear the woman will not survive the bitter Kloof cold.
Kloof police have also been inundated with requests from concerned residents to either move the woman to a safe shelter or find her a home.
Kloof police station commander Inspector Darren Miskin said several attempts to help the woman had been rebuffed. "We have been in contact with Pinetown social workers who interviewed her. She told them that she was from Inanda," said Miskin.
He said they were inundated almost every day with calls from the public to help the woman. "I don't know what we can do for her because it is dangerous for her to be there.
"She told us that her family from Inanda chased her away a few months back and she has nowhere to go," he said.
Miskin said they could not do anything "because she is not breaking the law... but everybody cares what happens to her".
Had the woman been mentally unstable, Pinetown Welfare would have asked the police to remove her to a mental institution.
"But they have since given up because she doesn't want to be helped," said Miskin.
