A little boy who was left alone while his mother went to a shebeen burnt to death when the kerosene lamp his mother left on burnt their shack down on Friday night.
The four-year-old boy Viwe Mrwetyana’s mother Bulelwa Mrwetyana, 31, narrowly escaped being beaten by her neighbouring residents in Du Noon’s Doornbach squatter camp after they discovered what happened.
A neighbour and close friend of Mrwetyana’s, Thenjiwe Wellem, 23, said she woke up at about midnight when she started coughing due to the smoke billowing into her shack.
Peering through the window, she saw Mrwetyana’s shack engulfed in flames.
Wellem said she jumped out of bed and woke her boyfriend and the pair of them started yelling and waking up the neighbours.
She said she heard Viwe crying in a faint voice, calling for his mother to help him, and then suddenly the crying stopped.
She said the flames were so fierce that none of the over 300 residents who rushed to try put out the fire dared try rescue the little boy.
“The entire shack was consumed in flames. No one could jump in the fire to rescue Viwe,” she said.
Men and women frantically demolished the shack to stop the fire from spreading, said community leader Zoliswa Gila.
Mrwetyana said she was still at the shebeen when she heard some one say a shack in the squatter camp was burning.
She said she raced home, only to discover it was her shack that was engulfed in flames and started frantically asking neighbours about her son.
She admitted that she left a kerosene lamp on before leaving her shack, and had locked her son inside.
“My shack was burning when I arrived. People were extinguishing the fire,” she said.
Ntombothando Piyosi said angry residents surrounded Mrwetyana and wanted to beat her. Some women took her away and hid her while police were called to the scene.
City Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Theo Layne confirmed the fire and Viwe’s death.
Layne said the fire-fighting crew was dispatched to the scene at about 1am but when they arrived the fire was under control.
Table View Police station commissioner Colonel Dirk Vosloo said the fire started shortly after midnight.
Vosloo said it appeared Mrwetyana was out drinking when the fire started in her shack, killing her son.
“An inquest docket has been opened and investigators are busy on the case. If there is foul play involved the docket will be changed to murder,” said Vosloo.
In a separate related incident, Layne said apart from the Doornbach fire, one wooden structure was burnt to the ground in Khayelitsha town two, resulting in the deaths of two adults and four children.
The cause of both fires has yet to established, he said.
- West Cape News
The four-year-old boy Viwe Mrwetyana’s mother Bulelwa Mrwetyana, 31, narrowly escaped being beaten by her neighbouring residents in Du Noon’s Doornbach squatter camp after they discovered what happened.
A neighbour and close friend of Mrwetyana’s, Thenjiwe Wellem, 23, said she woke up at about midnight when she started coughing due to the smoke billowing into her shack.
Peering through the window, she saw Mrwetyana’s shack engulfed in flames.
Wellem said she jumped out of bed and woke her boyfriend and the pair of them started yelling and waking up the neighbours.
She said she heard Viwe crying in a faint voice, calling for his mother to help him, and then suddenly the crying stopped.
She said the flames were so fierce that none of the over 300 residents who rushed to try put out the fire dared try rescue the little boy.
“The entire shack was consumed in flames. No one could jump in the fire to rescue Viwe,” she said.
Men and women frantically demolished the shack to stop the fire from spreading, said community leader Zoliswa Gila.
Mrwetyana said she was still at the shebeen when she heard some one say a shack in the squatter camp was burning.
She said she raced home, only to discover it was her shack that was engulfed in flames and started frantically asking neighbours about her son.
She admitted that she left a kerosene lamp on before leaving her shack, and had locked her son inside.
“My shack was burning when I arrived. People were extinguishing the fire,” she said.
Ntombothando Piyosi said angry residents surrounded Mrwetyana and wanted to beat her. Some women took her away and hid her while police were called to the scene.
City Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Theo Layne confirmed the fire and Viwe’s death.
Layne said the fire-fighting crew was dispatched to the scene at about 1am but when they arrived the fire was under control.
Table View Police station commissioner Colonel Dirk Vosloo said the fire started shortly after midnight.
Vosloo said it appeared Mrwetyana was out drinking when the fire started in her shack, killing her son.
“An inquest docket has been opened and investigators are busy on the case. If there is foul play involved the docket will be changed to murder,” said Vosloo.
In a separate related incident, Layne said apart from the Doornbach fire, one wooden structure was burnt to the ground in Khayelitsha town two, resulting in the deaths of two adults and four children.
The cause of both fires has yet to established, he said.
- West Cape News
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