Daily Sun (August 13 2014) - THEY were happy to get new homes, but now they want to flee their fancy flats.
At night ghosts rise from graves under the floor.
TAKE US BACK TO OUR LEAKY SHACKS, THEY PLEAD, HIDING UNDER THEIR BLANKETS.
Fikile Ngcobo (32) told Daily Sun that every night the ghost of a mysterious woman drags a coffee tin along the floor of her house.
The luxury flats at Cornubia in Verulam, north of Durban, KZN were built for shack dwellers by the eThekwini Municipality after a long battle.
But the homes no longer bring them joy.
"We have heard rumours that years ago there was a village here and people had graves in their yards," Fikile said. "They were removed when sugarcane was planted here. "Some of those people are now living at Ndwedwe. "We would really appreciate it if they could come and take the spirits of their dead relatives." For resident Phindile Khumalo (54), every sunset brings misery.
"Ever since I moved to this place from Ndwedwe, a ghost has tried to strangle me every night," she said. "I sometimes wake up and find that all the lights are on, even though I switched them off. "A spirit moves around and causes terror and chaos. "The ghost only leaves for a little while when I pray and sprinkle holy water in the house.
"Life is so difficult for everyone. At first I was embarrassed to tell anyone, but I later found out that some of our neighbours have already gone back to their shacks at Inanda due to a similar problem. "One of them told us the ghost gave her hot klaps and ordered her to get out of the house.
"She always woke up with swollen cheeks," Phindile said.
Area committee leader Thulani Nhlenyama (35) said nobody told him about the ghosts. "I have heard rumours about people moving out, but I didn't know the reason," he said. KZN president of the Traditional Healers Association of South Africa, Sazi Mhlongo, said that there are two solutions to the problem.
"Residents can get a traditional healer to give them a herbal mixture to get rid of the ghosts," Mhlongo told the People's Paper.
"Or they can contact the families of the people who lived there so they can fetch their spirits."
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