THE Chauke family lost everything when their house caught fire on Tuesday, 27 September.
The fire was allegedly sparked by load shedding.
Floyd Chauke from Klipspruit, Soweto claimed the power went off at midnight as scheduled and came back at 2am. Minutes later, their house was engulfed in smoke.
“We were asleep when we smelt smoke and to our surprise, the house was on fire,” he said.
The smoke started in one of the bedrooms, which they used to store all their household equipment.
It then spread to other bedrooms and destroyed many belongings. Then it spread further to the lounge, but they were able to put it out. “We could only save a few items. The carport also caught fire and the vehicle also burnt.”
The family is pleading with the community to help them rebuild their home. They said they have not reported the matter to Eskom.
The Pretoria Magistrates’ Court has on Friday, 30 September two men from Hammanskraal guilty of housebreaking.
Community leader Thabang Moloi said: “We called firefighters as soon as the fire broke out, but they arrived late. The people who answered our call are from Orange Farm, but we do have fire departments in Soweto. If things are like this, who do we then turn to for a swift response?”
Speaking on behalf of the EMS, Robert Mulaudzi said they have a shortage of fire engines in the city and at this stage they were forced to strategically place the fire engines where there are fire risk areas.
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“In this case, Soweto had only one fire engine on the day which was busy somewhere in Soweto, hence Orange Farm responded.”
He said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Daily Sun tried to get comment from Eskom, but they hadn’t responded at the time of going to print.
