Tshikota resident escapes raging fire

A 52-year-old Tshikota resident, Mr Edward Mafukata, was awakened by the noise of raging fire inside his room a fortnight ago.

Mafukata jumped out of his bed and looked towards the headboard, where the noise was coming from. His eyes were greeted by a blazing headboard and burning curtains. He soon realised that, if he stood longer inside the room, he might end up catching fire, which would kill him.

“I saw the fire quickly spreading through the house and decided to run out,” he said. “I was so terrified when I stood out there in the open, looking at the burning house. It became clear to me that if I hadn't managed to see the fire on time, I would have died in the house.”

Mafukata, who is unemployed, lost all his belongings in the fire, which burnt down his only room. “My bed, wardrobe, sofas and clothes were destroyed in the fire,” he said. “Even my ID book and food.”

He survives by performing odd jobs in town and around Tshikota. He says it took him many years to save money for his furniture and adds that it will take him several years to regain what he had lost in the fire. “I am appealing to people who have a good heart to help me with roofing sheets while I am still trying to pick myself up,” he pleads.

Rev Steven Sinthumule offered Mafukata temporary accommodation, clothes and food. “Socially speaking, Vho-Mafukata is my older brother and we cannot just fold our arms from a distance and watch him suffering,” he said. “At the same time, we are deeply touched by his situation and totally relieved at the fact that he had managed to escape death.”

Sinthumule added that he had also offered Mafukata a double bed and a wardrobe to take back to his house, once it had been renovated. “We pray that other good people see this man's plight and voluntarily help with material such as paint, roofing sheets and timber,” he said.

News - Date: 13 November 2014

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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