Limpopo family ‘living like dogs’ after fire destroyed house
The family's situation is very bad, they have lost everything including their ID books and they are left without food or a place to stay
LIMPOPO – The Khosa family from Waterval village, near Elim Hospital, watched helplessly as their 14 room house and all their possessions burned to the ground in December last year.
The cause of the fire is still unknown despite forensic investigators from Pretoria investigating the cause.
“Since our house was burnt we have been living like dogs without food or a place to sleep. If I tell you that we have never received any form of help from anyone you will not believe me, life is cruel sometimes,” said Peter Khosa, the elder in the family.
The family lost everything in the fire including their birth certificates and Identity Documents. Khosa and his wife are both pensioners and have six children who are still in school.
“We are stranded as a family. We do not even have food and to make matters worse we do not even have money in the bank which we can use to rebuild our house. What makes it worse is to this day there is no answer to what caused the fire,” said Khosa.
According to the family, the fire started while they were watching television and within a few minutes, the whole house was engulfed in flames.
Fortunately everyone managed to escape unscathed.
“It is so painful not knowing what your children will eat. I worked very hard to build a home for them only for this mysterious fire to come and destroy the house I worked my entire life to build,” said Khosa.
An electrical fault is suspected to be the cause of the fire, yet it cannot be confirmed. Department of Social Development Spokesperson, Adele Van der Linde, said the department will do all within their power to help the family.
“What happened to them is very sad and we will do all we can to help them. Our only worry is that they suffered for months without alerting us about what has happened to their house, but it’s never too late to help them,” she said.
The local social worker, Peggy Mulaudzi, said she visited the family over the weekend and she has promised to help them in the form of food parcels.
“The family’s situation is very bad, they have lost everything including their ID books and they are left without food or a place to stay,” said Mulaudzi.
