“TLOF tlof saved our lives!”
These were the words of Thobile Nodwele, whose hungry 4-5 saved him from a date with death.
This is because Thobile and his girlfriend narrowly avoided dying in a horrific shack fire after they slipped away from a party for poke.
The 41-year-old from Site B in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, told Daily Sun he was drinking with his girlfriend and friends on Friday, 18 February, when he became horny.
He asked his girlfriend for a poke. At first, she didn’t want to leave as she was having fun.
But he managed to convince her at around 8pm and they went to his house to have a quick round but they both passed out afterwards.
They were horrified when they learnt the next day that their friends had died in a shack fire.
Their friends, Nolufefe Zongile (30), Mkhululi Tovana (45), Sinovuyo Chali (25), Eric Libalele (34) and Anitha Bhontsi (24), died painful deaths in the fire, which left the whole kasi shocked.
Thobile said he thanked his ancestors for saving his life.
“If I had not craved a poke, my girlfriend and I could have died in this devastating fire. It hurts that our friends are dead but I’m also happy to be alive,” he said.
“When I left my friends, I was almost drunk, so I don’t think I would have escaped the blaze.”
The 33-year-old girlfriend said she was devastated.
“I don’t know if I will ever heal because they were not only friends, they had become like family to me over the last two years,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“What hurts me the most is the way they died. Dying in a fire is terrible.”
Police spokesman, Captain Frederick van Wyk, said an inquest docket was opened.
“A shack caught fire around 2am and five people were burnt to death.
“The cause of the fire is unknown and the investigation continues,” he said.
