A family in Sobantu, Galeshewe, was left without a home after a strange blaze destroyed their shack on Sunday. The shack reportedly caught fire twice on that day.
The only thing that was saved was the matriculant daughter’s school uniform and her stationery.
The first fire was reportedly seen by a neighbour, who managed to act fast and successfully extinguished it.
The neighbour, Ntumisang Tlhabanelo, said he was sitting in his yard when he spotted smoke coming from the back of the shack.
He said his neighbour’s daughter was busy doing laundry inside the yard and her mother was not at home.
“She started shouting that the shack was on fire, and I rushed to extinguish the fire with water buckets. Upon inspection we realised that the curtain, which was behind the wardrobe, caught fire.
“It was strange because there was no one inside the shack and there was no stove burning. The owner arrived and we removed the burnt curtain together and threw it away,” said Tlhabanelo.
He said 20 minutes later. while he was busy inside his house cooking, a child came running in and asked him to help because the shack was on fire again.
“When I looked out of the window I realised that the fire was already serious and had spread throughout the two-room shack.”
Tlhabanelo said nothing made sense about the fires because no one understand what started them. The community assisted in extinguishing the fire.
The ambulance and the Fire Brigade arrived at the scene after being called.”
According to Tlhabanelo, the same shack had caught fire a week ago, but the community managed to save the situation. He said that the fire started in a mattress.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Shemane Molefi, said no incident has been reported to the police in Galeshewe.
