UPDATE: Young petrol bomb victim recovering
Six-year-old Aphelele Gwala after being rescued from a house fire in eSikhaleni.
‘HELLO Mama, may I please have some water.’
Those were the first words six-year-old petrol bomb attack survivor Aphelele Gwala uttered to her mother days after she was rescued from a house fire in eSikhaleni last Monday morning.
By Saturday morning, the severely burnt victim was reported to show good signs of improvement at the Ngwelezana Hospital
Her brave mother, Nompumelelo Nyandeni (38), who saved her daughter from the flames, said she was overjoyed to hear her daughter’s voice.
Nyandeni told the Zululand Observer that the incident has created financial difficulties for her family.
‘I travel from eSikhaleni every morning to see my daughter, and I don’t have money. I don’t have time now to be with my other children because I spend all my time with Aphelele,’ she said.
Fearing for her life, Nyandeni said she and her three children have now moved in with a relative.
‘I’m still scared to go back to that house. I fear for my children’s safety,’ she said.
The family house was ‘set alight’ at 3am on Family Day.
Nyandeni said it started from the bedroom window close to where her four children were sleeping.
It was alleged that the attack was part of political intimidation from people opposing her affiliation with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
