GOGO Nozipho Mene(88) lost everything in a fire that ate her home in Khayelitsha, Cape Town in the early hours of Sunday morning, 10 September.
The fire started in her son’s backroom shack before it swallowed the entire family house.
Residents suspect that gogo’s son might have forgotten to switch off the stove when the electricity went off at night due to load shedding and the stove might have caused the fire when the electricity came back.
When the fire started spreading into gogo’s house from the shack, neighbours managed to get in and rescue gogo from the burning house. She was taken to her daughter's house which is a few minutes away.
When SunTeam arrived at the house, gogo arrived at the scene for the first time since she was rescued from the fire.
“I still don’t know what happened. My house is destroyed. Who burnt my house? I remember last night I was sitting with my grandson here and there were sofas and a table here, but now they are all gone. Everything is destroyed,” Gogo said.
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“She is hurt, and she can’t believe that it's her house that is in ruins. She still doesn’t know how she got out of the fire. Everything happened so fast,” said Nwabisa.
Gogo’s daughter, Nombuyiselo Mene(52) said they need assistance to rebuild gogo’s house and to buy furniture.
“We do not know where to start. We welcome anything that will assist us in rebuilding the house,” she said.
Neighbour Siyasanga Landzela(45) said they saw the house on fire and thought of gogo.
“We are glad that the grandson was quick to wake up, otherwise they would have burnt to death inside the house,” he said.
Fire and Rescue spokesman Edward Bosch confirmed the fire incident.
“On Sunday, 10 September 2023 at 5.29am the City’s Fire & Rescue Service received reports of a dwelling alight in Masizakhe Street, Site C.
"Two firefighting appliances with seven crew members responded from the Lansdowne Road fire station. A formal dwelling and one wood & iron structure were completely destroyed by fire leaving three people displaced and accounted for. No injuries or fatalities were reported. The cause of the fire is unknown,” said Bosch.
