Family feud fans fire
They are calling on residents who are able to assist.
Family squabbles often have devastating consequences for those on the receiving end of a relative’s anger.
Anger has blinded many people and turned families against each other and a number of disagreements have ended in deaths for those involved.
The Coetzee family felt the searing heat of a family member’s anger recently after a clash between relatives set off the white-hot temper of one of their own, with potentially deadly results.
The family, who occupy a flat at the block of flats along the Main Road, were stunned when their home was engulfed in flames on the morning of September 2.
According to Micayla Coetzee, the fire was started by her uncle. Members of the family who were in the house at the time of the blaze were her uncle, her sleeping grandmother and her little cousin Virgil.
Micayla said that her uncle had allegedly lit a match in the house and threw it under a bed.
Stored under the bed were clothing, plastic crates, books and other flammable items. Leticia Coetzee, the matriarch of the family said that she suspected that the uncle had started the fire in retaliation to an earlier argument at a gambling den.
Leticia said that the suspected arsonist would bother her for money whilst she was gambling, especially when was on a winning streak. This led to her being fed up, which is when she decided to stop giving him money.
The pair argued and he disappeared shortly afterwards. When the Eldorado Urban News reporter tried getting hold of the uncle, it emerged that he was also suspected of having stolen his nephew’s sneakers.
Although the blaze destroyed most of their worldly possessions and their home, the Coetzee family do have accommodation and are in the process of trying to rebuild their lives after things like clothing, furniture and essential documentation were consumed by the fire.
They are calling on residents who are able to assist, to visit Hillbrow flats to see firsthand how they can alleviate the living conditions of a family who very nearly escaped death.
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News site 1: Westside-Eldos Urban News, News site 2: Soweto Urban News
