Woman wakes up to find rats eating her face

25-year-old Lerato Tsotsotso from Mopedi section in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, SA, woke up to find that her face was being gnawed by rats.

"I realised rats were biting my forehead. I screamed and the three rats ran away," she said.

Lerato, who is wheelchair-bound, said now she can't sleep at night. She lives in a two-roomed shack with her mother and three brothers.

"The conditions in the house are bad and there is nothing we can do," she said.

"My mother applied for an RDP house in 2003 and she has been on the waiting list."

Lerato said the family depends on her social grant. Her mother Selinah Tsotsotso (48), used to get a disability grant but that was stopped in May.

"My mother suffers from epilepsy and can't work. We were shocked when she received a letter from Sassa telling her she won't get the money any more," she said.

Selinah said she felt ashamed for failing her family.

"There is no privacy here. When I take a bath my three boys have to go outside," she said.

Selinah said she used to leave Lerato during the day but since the incident with the rats she has to look after her all the time.

"I'm worried the rats will bite her again," she said.

She suspects that she was allocated a house already but it might have been occupied by someone else.

Gauteng Department of Human Settlement's Motsamai Motlhaolwa said houses are being built in Eden Park and in Tsakane.

"When the houses are finished, people whose houses were invaded will benefit. I'm not sure if the Tsotsotso family is on the list. But if she is, she will get her house," he said.