'Why did granny set herself alight?'

The family of a woman who last week set herself alight is hopeful that she will recover.

Her daughter Susan Cloete on Thursday told TimesLIVE that her mother was off the ventilators.

“My mother is awake. She can breathe on her own. She can see and hear and can move around a bit‚” she said.

“But her face is still bad ... She cannot go to the bathroom because there are mirrors in there.”

Hours after a fruitless job search last Monday‚ Cloete’s mother‚ Susan van Rooyen‚ bought some petrol‚ walked to a busy intersection‚ poured the substance over her head and rubbed it into her face before flicking a lighter and igniting into a ball of flames.

The horrific ordeal was captured on CCTV footage in Randfontein on Gauteng’s West Rand.

A taxi driver and shop worker were among those who ran to her aid‚ dousing the flames within seconds.

A badly burnt Van Rooyen was taken to the Leratong Hospital in a critical condition.

The family is still trying to come to terms with what happened. Cloete said she was horrified at the manner in which her mother‚ who has a bipolar disorder‚ tried to end her life.

“She remembers everything [that happened that day]‚” said Cloete.

But they are yet to get answers on what it actually was that ultimately pushed her to the edge.

When TimesLIVE visited Randfontein last week‚ we spoke to several shop owners who related how Van Rooyen had come knocking on their doors‚ pleading for a job‚ just hours before she tried to take her life.

A cashier at a home industry shop spoke of how Susan had in recent months come back to her store over and over again‚ asking for any job‚ even willing to mop the floors.

She had also come to the shop and left behind a few of her hand-crocheted teapot cosies‚ hoping to sell them.

A few weeks later she returned. Not even one had been sold.

Meanwhile‚ her family is aware that she will most likely never look the same again.

“They will be doing a skin graft surgery on her but we will have to wait until the end of the month to see if it happens‚” said Cloete.

One of the most difficult questions that she has had to answer has come from her young children who have asked her: “Why did granny set herself alight?”