TWIN boys died trying to save their father Lindile Zothe (47)from a shack fire in the early hours of Friday 8 October.
Zoleka Velengceni (38), the seven-year-old boys’ aunt, said everyone was asleep when the fire started in Mfuleni, Cape Town.
“The kids’ mother woke up and took the twins and another child outside. They then heard her husband screaming for help,” she said.
Aphiwe and Aviwe went back inside to save their father.
“My sister doesn’t know how they got back into the burning shack. She saw the one going in and when she looked for the other one, he was already inside. They both died with their father,” she said.
Zoleka said the incident left the whole family devastated.
“No one knows what started the fire. We are sad that the kids were saved only to go back inside and die,” she said.
Zoleka said the family was struggling to raise money to bury them.
“No one is working. Their father had just started working when he died,” she said.
Zoleka said the boys loved their father very much and that was probably the reason they went back inside to try and save him.
Celina Bali-Botye, another family member, said they wanted to bury the boys and their father with dignity.
“They are heroes and deserve to be buried as heroes. They saw their father needed to be saved and they didn’t think twice,” she said.
Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Jermaine Carelse said they received an emergency call at 1:58 am that informal structures were on fire in Covid squatter camp.
He said fire-fighters went to the scene and discovered bodies in the debris.
Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said an inquest docket was opened.
He said the cause of the fire had not yet been determined.
