Granny left homeless after blaze rips through home
Thoko Ngubane crying outside her home that burned down yesterday after a candle fell over and started a fire in the house, leaving her and her two relatives homeless. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane/African News Agency (ANA) Thoko Ngubane crying outside her home that burned down yesterday after a candle fell over and started a fire in the house, leaving her and her two relatives homeless. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane/African News Agency (ANA)
THREE women, with help from their neighbours, struggled to douse the flames that eventually brought down their home as the fire department battled to find their house in Cato Crest, Mayville.
They are now homeless and all they have left are the clothes they were wearing at the time of the fire, which broke out in the early morning.
Joanne “Jwana” Majozi, 81, and her daughter, Makhosi Majozi, had lit a candle during their early morning prayer on Thursday because there was a power outage in the area at that time.
“We went back to bed without blowing the candle out and the candle must have fallen over, because after that all I saw were flames in the room,” said Makhosi.
When the fire started, she was in bed asleep with her mother and all she remembers seeing were the flames on the bed and their wardrobe.
She then screamed out to her relative, Thoko Ngubane, 65, who was asleep in the next room.
“I had just been telling Makhosi to be careful with the candle and then before I knew it she was screaming out saying the room was on fire,” said Ngubane.
They both rushed to get the elderly Majozi out of bed because she cannot walk without assistance.
“When I got in the room, one side of the bed was burning so we had to pull granny quickly before she got burnt,” said a tearful Ngubane.
Once Majozi was out of the house, Makhosi screamed for help and their neighbour, Zodwa Mthembu, responded.
“I was just returning home from work at about 5am when I heard Makhosi screaming that there was a fire in the house,” said Mthembu.
They all tried to extinguish the fire, but it was too strong and spread quickly.
Other neighbours, who were alerted by the noise, called the police who put them through to the fire department who assured them they would be coming to help.
The fire truck allegedly could not see the burning house and kept circling a distance from where the house was.
“We could see the fire truck down the hill, but I guess they just did not get the proper directions,” said Mthembu.
With help from the community, they were able to extinguish the fire using buckets of water to douse the flames.
An inconsolable Ngubane said she was glad they were able to save Majozi, but devastated that they could not salvage their belongings from the house.
With the cold weather, the women were worried about where they would sleep and having warm clothes.
Majozi was sitting outside the house drinking tea her neighbours had brought for them when the Daily News visited. She did not have shoes, just a pair of socks. She was upset and said the incident had happened very quickly.
Mthembu said her heart was sore for her neighbours, who had just bought groceries with their social grant money, which ended up being destroyed by the fire.
“This family survives on their social grant. Makhosi does not have a stable job so I am very worried about them,” said Mthembu, who hoped a helping hand would be offered to the family soon.
Ward councillor Mzimunyi Njiba said he visited the family and provided food for them, but said he had nothing more to offer.
“I have asked members of the community to take them in until they have another place to go to,” said Njiba.
The eThekwini Fire Department could not provide comment on the incident.