MYSTERIOUS FIRE GUTS TONOTA GRAVEYARDS
Religious leaders unite in prayer Kgosi not convinced causes are supernatural
Tonota West Councillor Andy Boatile is worried sick about what he considers ‘mystery fires’ that have recently consumed graveyards in the village. So worried is the politician that he has even sought the intervention of religious leaders from all denominations to establish the cause of the mystery fires.
This comes after the second fire in a space of a week broke out at the John Phooko graveyards last week and allegedly caused great damage, burning almost half of the graves.
“The graveyard is approximately 10 hectares and I believe half of it burnt”, Boatile said.
They do not know what could be causing the fires. “It is a sad turn of events. Some families are unable to identify graves of their loved ones. “We appealed for help from religious leaders from all denominations. We want to do everything possible to ensure that we restore peace and calm the fear in the village.
“The fires are unsettling to members of the public, some are already deeply worried”, he said. While Tonota Chief, Kgosi Bokamoso Radipitse is not against prayers and divine intervention, his gut feeling is that there is absolutely nothing superstitious about the fires.
Neither is it a power line electric fault as previously suspected by his assistant, Kgosi Pogiso Sekoko. “I suspect the fire to have been caused by careless children that the community allows to play at the graveyards. They have turned the graveyards into a playground and that needs to stop”. Kgosi Radipitse further expressed worry over residents of Tonota that have neglected the graveyards. “There is need for de-bushing. The reason why it is so easy for the fire to spread so fast at ease was because of the long grass there.
“Villagers do not care about clearing and keeping the area clean. If everyone took responsibility, the fire would have not caused such great damage”, the Kgosi said. Kgosi Radipitse said the village leadership is currently busy at work to map a way forward and promised that they will soon get to the bottom of the matter.