House ‘burnt down in anger’
Mabona said.
According to reports, the suspect waited for her father to fall asleep and used that moment to set the house alight.
When neighbours noticed strange smoke emanating from the home, which has electricity, they quickly ran towards the house and rescued the father who escaped without injury. Mabona said that the neighbours not only saved the man’s life but even went as far as to extinguish the fire.
“We [the neighbours] managed rescuing tata [father] and extinguished the fire but we did not succeed in saving the household goods, because we were only using buckets to fetch water,” said Mabona.
He thanked his neighbours for their support in extinguishing the fire but expressed disappointment in the response time of the Ndlambe Fire Department as well as the Ward 6 councillor.
“We phoned the fire department as soon as it happened but they only got here at 6.30pm. They completely failed us,” said Mabona.
He further said he had heard that the district municipality would take over the fire department due to its constant failure to fulfil its mandate. He said due to this failure in May, four houses had burnt in the township, which had led to some people’s deaths.
He said that several calls were made to the Ward 6 councillor but their requests for assistance had fallen on deaf ears. “We phoned the ward councillor on Tuesday when this happened but he never showed up, and even now [two days after the incident],” said Mabona.
He said the same councillor had devoted his whole attention to a Ward 7 protest while his own ward was in desperate need of him.
Mabona said a case has been opened against the daughter and police were searching for her, as she had disappeared soon after the incident.
According to Mabona, the girl’s father had moved in with his family as the burnt house needs extensive repairs to be habitable again. Mabona appealed for support on behalf of the victim. Anyone who can help can contact Mabona on 071-041-1796.
Police spokeswoman Captain Mali Govender confirmed that a case of arson had been opened against the suspect.
Municipal spokesman Cecil Mbolekwa had not responded to queries about the fire department’s response time or a possible takeover by the district municipality at the time of going to print.