Woman flees in fear after starting fire

The woman who accidentally set fire to a Jeppestown informal settlement has disappeared.

Lindiwe Mkhize, 27, had reportedly left food cooking on a paraffin stove in her shack on Sunday. When she returned, the shack was ablaze and the flames were spreading.

According to her half-sister, Vuyiswa Gumbi, 23, Mkhize took her two children and fled to her house in Jeppestown.

“On Sunday she called me and told me what happened and came to sleep at my house. The next day she was gone and had left the children with me.”

Mkhize is the mother of three-year-old Asiphe, while four-year-old Siyabonga is the son of Mkhize’s other half-sister, Nosipho Gumbi, 22. Nosipho, who stayed with Mkhize, had been at church that day and returned to find the settlement burnt down.

“It’s not as if she did it on purpose. She probably ran away because she was afraid of what the other residents were going to do to her,” she said.

Fifty-six shacks on the corner of Concession and Princess streets were burnt, leaving about 250 people with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Nozibongo Dumezweni, 20, had been in town that day, and when she came back, all her possessions were burnt. She lost her clothes, ID, matric certificate and the little money she had.

Wellington Selane, 65, was wearing the same clothes – a blazer, a jersey and formal pants – that he had been wearing on Sunday afternoon. He was sleeping when he heard people shout “Fire! Fire!” He lost three suitcases of clothes, pots and blankets in the fire.

“We sleep right out here in the open. It is very cold.”

DA caucus leader Jack Bloom, who spent Tuesday night with the residents, has called for assistance for them.

“It was cold sleeping there, and the wood fire was acrid and asphyxiating. But these people are survivors; they just need assistance to help themselves.”

l If you can help, donations can be made to The Star’s Operation Snowball, account number 1908828978; Nedbank; branch code 190805; branch name: Fox Street or at The Star’s offices at 47 Sauer Street.

Or contact Castarina Khoza, chairwoman of the local DA branch, at 083 339 8034. - The Star