East woman arrested for torching shacks

A landlord and his three tenants lost everything they owned in a shack fire at the Phomolong informal settlement in Mamelodi East on Sunday.

It was alleged that a woman known to the owner set the place on fire, following an argument over money.

The fire then spread to the tenants’ shacks.

Community members tried to douse the fires, but without any success.

They managed to apprehend the suspected arsonist, who was reportedly fleeing the scene.

It was believed that the woman used paraffin to start the fire.

The woman was handed over to the police.

“My home had burnt to the ground,” tenant Tshireletso Mashiloane told Rekord.

“Everything I had owned had just perished in the fire my furniture and my clothes are all gone.”

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Mashiloane said all he had left were the clothes on his back.

“I don’t know how to start all over again,” he said.

“All my valuable documents such as my ID book were lost in the fire.”

“Thankfully no one was inside when the fire started,” said the shacks’ owner Nare Phukubje (47).

Phukubje said that he was unemployed and did not know how to help his tenants.

Phukubje asked anyone who could donate clothes and building materials for them to rebuild their shacks to contact him on 081-836-3626.

Local councillor Dorcus Maja said she was touched by the incident.

Maja said she has referred the affected families to Tshwane disaster management for help with clothes and blankets.

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“Unfortunately, we could not rebuild the shacks,” said Maja.

“However, we pleaded with the public to help with donations to rebuild their shacks since the affected families lost everything they owned in the fire.”

Mamelodi east police spokesperson Constable Lethabo Mashiloane said the suspect faced a charge of arson.

She was expected to appear in the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court soon.

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