Another young man dies in shack fire in eMbalenhle
"If we had stable electricity, my son would still be alive,” said Ms Ndlovu.
eMBALENHLE- Mr Jabu Ngwenya survived a shack fire at Ext 17 in eMbalenhle that took the life of his brother, Mr Sipho Ngwenya (23) on Monday night, July 26.
According to Mr Ngwenya, the electricity was off and they were sleeping when fire ignited inside the three-room shack he was sharing with his brother.
He was awaken by the loud noise people were making outside.
“When I awoke, I saw flames coming out of my brother’s room. I kicked open my door and tried to open my brother’s door but the flames were so intense that we could not rescue him.
“At first we thought he was not inside because it was quiet, but when the fire was extinguished we saw his charred body next to his bed,” a traumatised Mr Jabu Ngwenya said.
He lost everything, including his identity document.
“We suspect that the fire was caused by an electrical short or surge, because the electricity was off when we went to bed. However, when I awoke, the electricity in the area was on,” he explained.
Ms Maria Ndlovu, their mother, said she heard an explosion. She went to see what caused the noise and found that the rooms of her children’s shack were fire.
“Please, I plead with the municipality not to restore the electricity in the middle of the night. It they fail to bring it back during the day, they must not bring it back at all.
“Every winter we know of someone who died in a shack fire.
“If we had stable electricity, my son would still be alive,” said Ms Ndlovu.
eMbalenhle Police have opened an inquest into Mr Sipho Ngwenya’s death.
A 34-year-old man was also rushed to the Evander Hospital after his shack caught fire at Ext 22, on Monday morning, July 19.
According to residents, this man managed to kicked open the door while his shack was on fire.
He sustained burns to his right hand.
Residents also said the man was asleep alone when the fire broke out. The cause is not yet known.
He lives in the same street where two children burnt to death in a shack fire earlier this year.
The municipality didn’t respond at the time of going to press.
