Fire robs family of more than just their home
"Why did he have to die in such a horrible way?"
Standing in the ruins and ashes of what the fatal fire left behind, Maud Manzou wept; softly at first but soon enough her cries became audible. On Friday October 1, the shack she shared with her family was engulfed in flames. Unfortunately, this is how her brother, Ben Mudau, would lose his life.
“Our child woke us up and told us there was a fire. When I opened my bedroom door, it looked as if the flames were flying. The fire was everywhere,” Manzou began. “All I had on was my gown. It must have been just after 01:00. We all ran out and started calling out to the neighbours. I ran to the house nearby and shouted ‘my house is on fire, I don’t have anything … help me’.”
She tried to run back inside but her husband held her back, saying “There is no way to get back inside”.
Read initial article here: One person dead in shack fire
Her neighbours started bringing buckets of water to extinguish the fire. They did this until 04:00 when Disaster Management made it to the scene, “… but everything was already gone. Everything had already been destroyed – my passport, the money I had on me, it was all gone. I had packed so many things because I was planning to go home for a visit. I haven’t been home in two years …” She broke down before she could finish. With her voice breaking, she said she and her brother were planning to visit their family in Zimbabwe for the first time since lockdown restrictions had eased.
Mudau had been living with Maud, her husband and their child in Zandspruit for 11 years. “We got along really well. I got home from work on Friday and saw my brother briefly. We didn’t really speak. I just figured ‘I will talk to him tomorrow’. I bathed and then went to sleep because I had to go to work on Saturday. Little did I know that he was leaving,” she sobbed as a neighbour comforted her.
She described her brother as a peaceful man, who got along with everyone in the community and loved a good time. “Even if we had a disagreement, we would sort it out then and there and move on. He loved music and dancing; we were always dancing at home. Even the neighbours would tell you that it was always going down on weekends. He just loved to have fun,” she said.
“When people started coming and putting out the fire, I told them that we all got out of the house … that’s what I thought.” Manzou said she had no idea that her brother was stuck inside. “Right now, I can’t be there, I can’t look at what is left,” she pointed at her former home. “Why did he have to die in such a horrible way? It is so painful. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for him to die like that!”
She is currently living in a rented room with her husband and child. “We just needed a place where we can sleep, especially for our child.” She said her employer gave them blankets and a mattress. They have also had food and clothes donated to them. “We will see how things go and how we can move forward from here. We have lost so much but … at least I am alive. A person, on the other hand cannot be replaced; he’s gone. I feel like if I start crying, I will never stop. Sometimes it’s better for me to just be silent.”
