HE was playing in his father’s car recently when he decided it would be fun to light a fire.
The little boy went to the spaza shop to buy a box of matches and when he returned, he started playing with it.
But before he knew what was happening, the fire was out of control and the boy called out to his father for help.
When he ran outside, Samson Mkansi (42) from Etwatwa, Ekurhuleni, was horrified to find his bakkie engulfed in flames.
He tried to put out the fire, but it was too late.
The interior of his bakkie was burnt out, and the fire had also damaged the back of the vehicle.
“We managed to put out the fire before it got to the engine and the rest of the body,” he told Daily Sun.
Samson said the damage was worth R30 000 and he didn’t know where he would get the money to fix it.
“I have been using this bakkie for deliveries to support my family,” he said.
Samson said his seven-year-old son was unharmed but was very shocked at the damage.
“He likes playing in the car but recently, I don’t know what made him start the fire.
“I can get angry but at the end of the day, he’s a child and there’s nothing I can do,” Samson told the People’s Paper.
“I just want to make other parents aware that they must not allow their children to play with fire.”
Samson said the shop owner who sold the boy the matches probably thought he had been sent by elders.
Ekurhuleni Emergency Services warned that matches are not toys.
The emergency services is now on an educational drive across squatter camps and kasis in Ekurhuleni to warn residents about the dangers of fire.
