Horror shack blaze claims kids

A PHOLA Park couple is picking up the pieces after both their sons died in a shack fire on Monday afternoon.

The mother of the two boys, Xoliswa Smile 32, said this week she had decided to leave Lelethu, 5, and Live Smile, 3, alone as she had no one to look after them.

“I woke up on Monday and their father told me to go to Sassa. We have been having problems with their grant money and I needed to go to town to sort that out. I made food and fed my sons after bathing them. I cleaned the shack and hid the matches away because I did not want to leave anything that could have been a danger to them. The woman who usually helped me with the kids was not around so I had no one to look after them. I left them on the sofa and told them I would be back soon.”

She said while she was at a salon having her hair done, her neighbours called to say the shack was on fire. She said she ran screaming to the township but community members did not want her to get close to the gutted structure.

The boys’ father, Lulamile Sam, 31, said it would take time to overcome the grief.

“It is better to go to work because doing nothing all day will make me think about my sons. I have lived in Phola Park since 2008 and that is where I met the mother of my children. My father also lived there so I thought it was the right place for me and my family. There was no one to look after them. Our community is not united and there is no spirit of ubuntu, but that is just how it is in the poor communities.

“As a father you do not ever think of losing your sons early in life.”

The blaze destroyed all of their belongings including their identification documents.

“I do not suspect any foul play, I believe it was just an accident. The fire destroyed everything, all of my important documents are gone. It is not easy, we have no place to live,” Sam said.

The family is still waiting for the postmortem results before the funeral and police spokesman Captain Namhla Mdleleni said an inquest had been lodged into the deaths.