Family needs help to recover from fire
It is believed the blaze was caused by a laptop that was plugged in during load-shedding.
A Daveyton family of 11 is appealing for donations after they lost all their belongings in a house fire on July 23.
They are pleading for anything they can use to get back on their feet.
“We need donations to get the roof back together so that we can live in the house again,” said family member Kgopotso Mkhonza.
It is believed the blaze was caused by a laptop that was plugged in during load-shedding.
“The only logical explanation is the laptop because it was charging when load-shedding hit and when electricity came back the fire started,” said Mkhonza.
She further elaborated on how none of them were in the house when the incident happened.
“We were in the outside room playing games with the children,” said Mkhonza.
The outside room is for now their alternative shelter but they battle because of space.
“I do not know what my daughter wanted to get from the house but she went to the house and the blaze was already out of control,” she added.
They screamed for help and neighbours came running with buckets of water trying to put out the fire.
“We called the fire department and they came quickly,” Mkhonza explained.
During the fire, it is alleged that suspected nyaope addicts in the area broke their glass door and stole their appliances including their TV and other mobile devices.
According to the eldest brother in the family, Mbongiseni Mkhonza, the house was left to them by their mother who passed away two years ago and they will struggle to prove that because the documents burnt in the fire.
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“The house originally belonged to our grandmother who left it to our mother in her will, who then left it to my siblings and me after she passed,” he added.
The family is appealing for help to obtain birth certificates, IDs, driver’s licenses and other school documentation that were also lost to the fire.
“The firefighters gave us a mattress and two blankets. We are thankful,” said Mkhonza.
The family is living from hand to mouth and expressed how food donations would also help them.
Meanwhile, members of Gauteng Region of SCOUTS South Africa donated clothes to the family.
To donate contact Mkhonza on 074 861 1055.
Also Read: Community calls for end to ‘toxic’ fires
