Family can finally bury girl after long wait for DNA results
The reason behind the child not being buried as yet was the parents are from Lesotho and all their identity documents were burned during the fatal shack fire.
The Nthakong family from Plot 61, Smith informal settlement, next to Nellmapius N4 Gateway will finally be able to bury their two-year-old daughter who died in a shack fire in October.
The body of the child has been at the government mortuary while the family was waiting for the DNA results to confirm her identity.
This follows after the community advocacy movement Soil of Africa intervened after the family, originally from Lesotho, claimed that they had been waiting for the DNA results.
The child died after a shack fire incident.
Chairperson of the advocacy movement Bongani Ramontja said his organisation believes that it is inhumane for a child’s remains to stay in a mortuary for more than six months.
He said the reason behind the child not being buried as yet was that the parents are from Lesotho and all their identity documents were burnt during the fatal shack fire.
“However, the DNA results came back after we confronted the Forensic Science Laboratory. The DNA test confirmed that Ntswaki Nthakong was the biological mother of the two-year-old child who died in the fire,” he said.
Ntswaki Nthakong said she was happy that she could finally lay her child to rest.
She said she was out fetching water when the fire started.
Nthakong left her child sleeping as she fetched water a few metres away.
She recalls neighbours shouting that her shack was on fire.
Nthakong said she threw the bucket away and rushed back, where she found the shack on fire.
“The fire had already spread all over, and I tried everything I could in my power to save my daughter, but community members restrained me,” she said.
She helplessly watched the fire consume her baby daughter.
The family suspects the cause of the fire might be faulty electricity connections in the shack.
At the moment, she and her husband are homeless and stay as tenants in an area adjacent to Nellmapius known as Marikana.
She also said she is experiencing sleepless nights and nightmares, and sometimes she hears the voice of her dead child calling out to her.
Grandmother Elizabeth Maleka also said she can’t sleep either, because her grandchild has not yet been buried.
“Let the government help us bury our child, so we can know where the grave is and get closure,” she said.
She said about R10 000 would be needed for the burial site only, excluding all other funeral expenditures.
Community member Jan Masango said if the area had proper, legal electricity connections, then such a horrible incident would not have happened.
He appealed to the city or municipality to install proper electricity in the area.
Ramontja confirmed that a Good Samaritan has offered to help the family with all the burial expenses, from the coffin to transport and the tombstone.
The burial date will be on May 16.
Police spokesperson Captain Johan van Dyk confirmed the DNA results came back positive.
“The results confirmed Ntswaki Nthakong being the biological mother of the child who died in a shack fire.”
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