Huge damage after house burns down

The Thavhana family’s 10-room house in Biaba village in Nzhelele burnt down last Thursday. The house belongs to a police officer stationed at Mphephu and the fire may have been the result of an arson attack. One suspect has been arrested.

According to eyewitnesses, no-one was in the house when the fire was spotted. Although the neighbours tried to assist, they could not save the contents of the house.

The owner and police officer stationed at Mphephu SAPS, Mr Abel Thavhana, said he could not believe his eyes when he saw his house burning. “I felt like I was dreaming as I watched helplessly,” he said. “I am now appealing to any good Samaritan out there to come and assist me. What I want is to have a roof over my head. What have I done to deserve this?” he asked. “This is a (type of) disaster that we see on television, happening far from us. This time it was happening to our family! Luckily no one was injured in the fire, and we have only God to thank for protecting us,” he said.

Thavhana said that the incident happened around 14:00. “I was alerted by my neighbours that the house was burning. I rushed to the house and, on my arrival, the neighbours told me that they had already called the fire brigade of the Makhado Municipality. They responded very quickly, but the fire had unfortunately already caused severe damage,” he said.

“The neighbours told us that they had heard an explosion, followed by a fire,” he said. He added that the fridge, kitchen unit, beds, TV, money, clothes, ID, food and furniture had been destroyed by the fire. Everything inside the house was burnt to ashes. The fire also damaged the roof and the walls of the house. According to Thavhana, the damage to his property is estimated to be more than R3 million.

“I’m happy to be alive, although I’m highly disturbed by the incident. I think these are jealous people who believe in primitive ways of solving problems. I believe they will never escape the long arm of the law as they will never escape without being punished,” he said.

The mayor of Makhado Municipality, Cllr Shonisani Sinyosi, said that, through the disaster-management unit, the municipality was going to assist the affected family. “Our disaster team have already assessed the damage and we are going to issue some tents, food and blankets to the family,” she said. “I have requested community members to donate useful material and food to the affected family,” the mayor said.

Mphephu police spokesperson Const Olga Tshikalaha confirmed the incident. She said an arson docket had been opened and a suspect, Gift Rampfumedzi (22), had been arrested. He appeared in court last Friday and his case was postponed.

Date:08 September 2016

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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