Soweto shack burnt to the ground after grant money dispute
The female relative waited for the children to be taken to school before starting the fire.
A shocked Rebecca Zwane looks at what remains of her home. Image: Soweto Urban
A family in Diepkloof Zone Three has been left trying to pick up the pieces remaining from the fire that was deliberately started by a member of the family, who was furious after being refused money, reports Soweto Urban.
Rebecca Zwane was taking children to school when the fire was started.
She said she and a relative began fighting last Saturday when she returned from getting the social grant money for the other children in the family. Zwane said her relative demanded some of the grant money, but she told her that the money was only enough for the groceries and the children’s essentials.
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Zwane said her relative then began destroying the groceries she had returned with on Saturday to express frustrations from not getting money.
“After the police refused to take our case, they said that they would come [to our] home to put her in check, but they didn’t, this was on Saturday,” Zwane said.
A case was eventually opened at the Diepkloof SAPS, and the relative in question, suspected of starting the fire, has not been seen since the shack burnt down. The relative is now being sought by police and the community, who were enraged at her “heinous act”.
Zandile Zwane backed up Rebecca’s story that their relative started chaos in the family on Saturday and destroyed the groceries, and that they went to the police station to report her and open a case, but the police turned them away, claiming there was no case.
“After the police did not come at home to warn her about her violence, she left and we believe she returned Monday morning while we were away and burnt stuff,” Zandile Zwane said.
The spokesperson for Diepkloof SAPS, Captain Phephi Matlou-Mteto, explained that the girl was being searched for and that no injuries were reported from the burning house.
Matlou-Mteto said: “It is only hearsay how the family tried opening the case but got turned back, because no person should be turned away from opening a case, we have opened the case and the girl has not been caught yet.”
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