Fire-bombed family living in fear
A KENNEDY Road, Clare Estate family is living in fear after three petrol bombs were thrown into their home on Saturday morning.
Zain Ismail, 25, said they woke at around 5.30am to pray when they heard a bang coming from his 29-year-old sister’s room, followed by screaming.
“My sister and my teenage cousin had been asleep when their room window was broken and a glass bottle filled with petrol thrown in. It hit the curtain and set alight the bed they were sleeping on.
“Flames engulfed the blankets and curtains. Thankfully, my father managed to get into the room and douse the flames using blankets.”
Ismail said both women were uninjured but shocked.
According to Ismail, one petrol bomb was was thrown into the living room and the other aimed at the prayer room.
“The one aimed at the living room fell and broke but did not explode; the one aimed at the prayer room was still intact and the police have taken it for their investigation.”
Ismail said his father Farouk, 67, and mother Zuleikha, 49, have since decided to upgrade their security by installing an electric fence.
He did not understand why their family was being victimised, but speculated that recent land invaders, whose shacks were removed by the authorities, probably believed the family had reported them.
Ismail said selling their home was not an option.
“This house has been in our family for generations, passed on from my great-grandfather. Even if we decided to sell, what will we get for it?
“We are just easy targets. It is a strategy to force us out of our home.”
Ismail said he was grateful to the Clare Estate Action Committee whose members came to their assistance.
“On Saturday evening, they posted teams to sit and monitor the neighbourhood, and even offered assistance on Sunday.
“It is evidence of a united front and we can only achieve things if we are united.”
Committee chairman Vincent Chetty said it was sad that innocent people were being targeted.
“Authorities need to now step in to resolve these issues, as it is out of our hands.”
He said a similar incident occurred in nearby Burnwood Road recently where a home was burnt down.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said the attack on the house happened after a group of people from the Kennedy Road informal settlement protested about their shacks being demolished.
“A municipal truck and bus were also petrol bombed,” he said.
“SAPS, as well as Durban metro police are deployed in the area and now the situation is back to normal.”
Zwane said a case of public violence had been opened but there had been no arrests.