Philippi matric pupil Thembi Stemele has had a disastrous start to the new school year: the uniform she worked through her December holidays to pay for went up in flames when her mother's boyfriend allegedly torched their home.
Instead of returning to school to follow her dream of matriculating in 2009, the devastated teenager had to spend the day sifting through the remains of the four-roomed shack she shared with her poverty-stricken family.
Thembi's Grade 11 school report from Intsebenziswano High School in Brown's Farm, her birth certificate, her ID and all the family's belongings were destroyed in the fire on Tuesday night, which also destroyed her uncle's neighbouring shack and several others nearby.
The books and clothing of Thembi's 11-year-old sister, Noluvo, were burnt too. She had been due to start Grade 5 at St Mary's Primary School in New Crossroads on Wednesday.
Thembi said she had had high expectations for the new school year and had sacrificed her school holiday to work to earn cash to buy a new school uniform for her final year.
Her mother Sindiswa Skhephe's only income is from selling the Big Issue to motorists in the city.
The fire was allegedly the result of a spat between Skhephe and her boyfriend, after which the 40-year-old man allegedly torched their home.
They have not seen him since then.
"I spent time in the early evening ironing my new uniform to prepare myself for the next day at school.
"Now everything is destroyed," a tearful Thembi said.
The teenager worked as an assistant in a shoe store in Mitchells Plain during the school holiday.
She earned more than R1 000, out of which she bought her new uniform, including a school tracksuit, two white shirts, grey trousers, black shoes, a pullover and a tie.
All she has left is a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and some slip-slops on her feet.
All the family managed to salvage were some blackened kitchen utensils and ornaments.
Thembi's big hope for the new year is that her mother will find a new job so that the family no longer has to battle financially as they have done in the past.
When their home burned, Skhephe, 36, had left her home to seek refuge from a relative in a nearby section after the man allegedly threatened to stab her and kill her.
Mlandeli Ndabambi, chairperson for the area's (Block 6 Section) street committee, said the incident was the first of its kind in the neighbourhood and that they would do their best to support the family.
"We were all shocked when we saw the shack engulfed in flames," he said.
- Cape Argus
Instead of returning to school to follow her dream of matriculating in 2009, the devastated teenager had to spend the day sifting through the remains of the four-roomed shack she shared with her poverty-stricken family.
Thembi's Grade 11 school report from Intsebenziswano High School in Brown's Farm, her birth certificate, her ID and all the family's belongings were destroyed in the fire on Tuesday night, which also destroyed her uncle's neighbouring shack and several others nearby.
The books and clothing of Thembi's 11-year-old sister, Noluvo, were burnt too. She had been due to start Grade 5 at St Mary's Primary School in New Crossroads on Wednesday.
Thembi said she had had high expectations for the new school year and had sacrificed her school holiday to work to earn cash to buy a new school uniform for her final year.
Her mother Sindiswa Skhephe's only income is from selling the Big Issue to motorists in the city.
The fire was allegedly the result of a spat between Skhephe and her boyfriend, after which the 40-year-old man allegedly torched their home.
They have not seen him since then.
"I spent time in the early evening ironing my new uniform to prepare myself for the next day at school.
"Now everything is destroyed," a tearful Thembi said.
The teenager worked as an assistant in a shoe store in Mitchells Plain during the school holiday.
She earned more than R1 000, out of which she bought her new uniform, including a school tracksuit, two white shirts, grey trousers, black shoes, a pullover and a tie.
All she has left is a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and some slip-slops on her feet.
All the family managed to salvage were some blackened kitchen utensils and ornaments.
Thembi's big hope for the new year is that her mother will find a new job so that the family no longer has to battle financially as they have done in the past.
When their home burned, Skhephe, 36, had left her home to seek refuge from a relative in a nearby section after the man allegedly threatened to stab her and kill her.
Mlandeli Ndabambi, chairperson for the area's (Block 6 Section) street committee, said the incident was the first of its kind in the neighbourhood and that they would do their best to support the family.
"We were all shocked when we saw the shack engulfed in flames," he said.
- Cape Argus
2 comments:
you tag this post as corruption? I would want to hear your personal thoughts in response to the newspaper articles. ...Wow it seems like you have collected a lot of material since 1999. That's a long time! Great. How do you make sure this useful bunch of collections is read by peopla in the 'building industry (from council, architect, community to private investor,..) I had never seen your site untill you post on http://lovetotheworld.org ...
Thanx for your comment fre, the posts above and below are tagged corruption I think you may have been seeing that.
There is a lot of corruption in the Western cape built habitat.
I have been promoting the site as much as possible. Support for my project has been short in forthcoming.
I do what I can ... afford
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