Pensioner’s family home burns down

Community members from Madombidzha are still in shock, following an incident where the Malange family’s 13-roomed house burnt down on Sunday morning.

The house, belonging to a senior citizen, was severely damaged by fire. According to eyewitnesses, they only saw a house burning but did not know where the fire was coming from. There was no one in the house during the incident.

Although the neighbours tried to assist, they could not save the contents inside the house.  The owner, a pensioner, Mr Eric Malange, did not believe his eyes when he saw his house burning. “I felt like I was dreaming when 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.

Malange said that the incident happened around 07:00. "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. It responded very quickly, but the fire had unfortunately already caused severe damage," he said.

Malange said that he suspected that the cause of the fire was an electrical fault. He estimates the damage at approximately R350 000. "The neighbours told us that they 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.

For the time being, the homeless family is staying over with neighbours. A plea was made to community members and the business sector to assist the family with food, clothes, school uniforms and books. “The senior citizen wants to repair the house, but it seems as if it will be difficult. He does not have any source of income,” said Cllr David Davhana.

In the meantime, it was also reported that the house of a disabled pensioner, Mr David Mashige, burnt down on Monday afternoon. Anyone who wants to help the pensioners can phone Davhana at 079 368 7816.

Date:13 June 2014

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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