ANC MP escapes ‘bonfire’ car with family on R72
Smoke starts curling from under front seats in Land Rover Discovery
ANC MP Princess Faku watched helplessly from the roadside as her car turned into a bonfire on Wednesday at about 7pm.
No-one was injured as Faku and her four passengers — all family, including her four-yearold daughter — had scrambled out of the Land Rover Discovery SUV just in time before flames engulfed the vehicle on the R72 between East London and Port Alfred.
They were on their way to Kenton-on Sea for a long weekend family retreat when the car caught fire.
The former National Youth Development Agency boss said on Thursday she would take her “traumatised” family for counselling after the near-death experience. Faku, 38, a former Eastern Cape ANC Youth League treasurer and now the ANC’s Dr WB Rubusana regional executive leader, bought the luxury vehicle less than a year ago.
Speaking to the Dispatch on Thursday, Faku said they were “lucky to be alive, as the vehicle could have exploded while we were still inside”.
“We first smelt something like a burning tyre. We had passed Tsholomnqa when we noticed smoke coming from under the driver’s seat. On closer inspection we noticed fire under the driver’s seat and front passenger seat. We quickly stopped and began to disembark.
“While we were all outside the vehicle, shocked and confused, a passing motorist who came to our rescue advised us to clear all our luggage as the fire was intensifying,” Faku said.
She said it had not sunk in yet that they could easily have been killed in the mysterious fire.
“We cleared our luggage and stood, numb, a distance away, before the vehicle exploded. It burnt to ashes. There was nothing we could do.
“This all took place in less than 20 minutes,” she said.
Faku, who bought the vehicle brand new in 2019, declined to say what it had cost, but said: “It was a very good car and was in very good condition.”
The cause of the fire has not yet been established as the company she had insured the car with had not yet assessed the damage. Faku said although she did not suspect foul play, “you cannot rule out anything, especially for those of us in politics”.
Asked if she had experienced anything that would make her suspect the incident was not an honest accident, Faku was reluctant to speak.
“I don’t know of anything. Just before lockdown began there was a strange vehicle that I believe had been tailing me for some time, but later it disappeared.
“Also, recently my phone was hacked and a person pretending to be me went around asking for money from people close to me. So one cannot rule out anything at the moment.”