Disabled sisters burnt in a shack fire — one dead, one hospitalised

Phaello Mmole, whose two disabled cousins were burnt in a shack fire, says the family has been trying to apply for an RDP house for the two women since 2019. 

Nomthandazo Hlomendlini, 21, and Xola Hlomendlini, 30, were burnt last Wednesday morning when a pillow fell onto a heater and caught fire, setting the shack alight.

The two disabled sisters who stayed with their elder sister and her two children in a one-roomed shack were alone as their sister had left home to deliver a clocking device at her workplace. 

Nomthandazo burnt to death while Xola sustained severe burn wounds and was hospitalised.    

Mmole told TimesLIVE that when the heater caught fire, her two wheelchair-bound cousins, who were sitting on the couch, couldn't move and “struggled to scream and call for help”. 

“That's why they were unable to move when the fire started. People realised from the smoke that it was burning,” she said. 

“They saw when the fire started but struggled to move and theirs screams were not loud enough to be heard. That day, it was cold and most people had closed themselves inside their houses, and people recognised when it was too late that it was burning,” she said.

Mmole, who stayed in the same area not far from where her cousins stayed, says they were renting a shack and had applied for an RDP house at the Ekurhuleni department of human settlements. 

“My other cousin [who stayed a few houses away] saw smoke while she was in the garden and went to investigate and found people there trying to save them,” she said. 

She said they only managed to save Xola as the fire had already spread and damaged the shack. 

“It is a difficult time for us to see your cousin burning in that way. We know it's God's decision, but it is very painful and we have to accept it,” she said.   

She said her family had been trying to help them with their application for a government house, but, they were told they were on the waiting list.

They had enquired at the Ekurhuleni municipality and their cousins' names were not on their database.

On Monday Gauteng MEC for human settlements Tasneem Motara visited the family in Thinasonke, Extension 4, Mamosakgo in Ekurhuleni.

Mmole said they were hoping that the MEC's visit to their family would help them get assistance from the government and fast-track the application for Xola who has been hospitalised. 

She said her cousin, who survived, would struggle when she was discharged from the hospital. “If she can get a house where she can move with ease it will be a relief to our family,” she said. 

Mmole said political leaders always visited her cousins and promised to help them, but nothing happened.

“Politicians usually come, and we always hope that something will happen. Then you don't see them until this accident, and I think politicians only come when there is a problem like what happened now,” she said.

Motara, who was accompanied by officials from her department, assessed the damage site and met with the family of the sisters. 

She said the incident was devastating. Her heart goes out to the family who have suffered a terrible loss, and they wanted to ensure that they receive all the support they need.

She said she decided to visit the family after the local councillor had informed her that the Ekurhuleni municipality had not yet responded and she communicated with minister of human settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi. 

Kubayi said the issue of proper housing was a huge challenge in many townships in the province. She said her department was confronted with many challenges including the issue of land invasion, a huge backlog and a limited budget to deliver housing across the province. 

She added that some of the completed projects are also invaded by residents before they are allocated to beneficiaries. The department has to go through a process of evicting them which isy long, tedious and not always successful. 

“The third [challenge] is scams that are out there; even today [Monday], I was made aware of a Facebook page in my name selling RDP houses or purporting to sell RDP houses across the province in different developments and projects that we are either some of them we are implementing, or some of them are from the municipalities,” she said.

“We want to be able to just continually communicate that, you don't have to pay for a RDP house, you don't have to pay for your title deed. You don't have to pay anybody to apply. If you are paying for it, that is an illegal activity and we are following up with the law enforcement agencies,” she said.

She added there were a number of projects in the province and that she was working with metro municipalities to see how they could address those pressing issues. 

TimesLIVE