Patricia Maphumulo and Nomathemba Manqongopha feeding some of the clowder. (Photo: Lyse Comins)
Nomathemba Manqongopha, 52, is the “cat lady” of an informal settlement in KwaZulu-Natal where she cares for 34 stray cats that she has welcomed into her “jondolo” on the Bluff, in the south of Durban.
Keith Malyon, 52, her partner, a subsistence fisherman who has lived here for seven years, said the clowder of cats started after a resident brought one female cat, Twalazi, to the neighbourhood to deal with a rat problem.
He estimates that there are about 100 unemployed people living in the settlement who are eking out a living hustling and doing odd jobs when they can.
Yet, as poor as the community is, people share their food with the cats who all have healthy coats, while local animal welfare groups have stepped in to collect food and assist with sterilisation.
“One black and white cat came here brought by one of the residents because there were rats and we didn’t realise it was a female cat. That was more than a year ago. She ventured and ventured and then just started bearing and bearing and bearing,” Malyon said.
He fishes at the Grunters Gully where he catches salmon, mullet and a variety of other fish to feed himself, Manqongopha and their cats.
“If I have a few fish, I cut them up and give a little bit to all of them,” Maylon said.
Today Manqongopha has a delivery of cat food from local cat welfare organisations and although the cats have already eaten this morning, as soon as she calls out a few names and puts down their bowls, the cats emerge one by one, and then en masse, from bushes around the settlement.
Black, black and white, some with long hair, others fat, and some kittens whirl around Manqongopha seeking food — no sign of feral behaviour.
She has named seven of the cats — some names are Smokey, Brandy, Whiskey, Pink Nose and Champion (a long-haired boy) — who sleep inside her shack at night, where she says there are also now several kittens seeking shelter.
Manqongopha is not a woman of many words as she quietly goes about caring for the cats, but she describes herself as having always been a “cat lover” rather than a dog person.
Nasrin Mahomedy, the bearer of the food delivery and who works with Feral Cat Rescue and Abandoned Paws, got involved after she saw a post by Kerwin Marnitz on Facebook highlighting the plight of the cats and the community. She said Feral Cat Rescue raised funds to pay for the sterilisations.
“I used to come every day before work, pick up two or three cats and get them to the vet. After work I would pick them up again and bring them back. We managed, in a few weeks, to get 17 sterilised,” she said.
Mahomedy said the organisation needs additional funds to complete the sterilisation programme, which includes rabies inoculations.
Marnitz said his domestic worker, Patricia Maphumulo, who lives near the settlement, alerted him to the plight of the cats and the community.
“Nasrin has arranged for the cats to be neutered and if it was not for her and her sponsors the population would have exploded. She’s been the biggest help ever,” he said.
“But apart from the cats, the people in the community also need help, donations of food, clothing and any materials that people are willing to share with them,” he said.
Of course, Malyon added, a dream for everyone in this community, not least his cat lady, would be to get any kind of job.