Frank Maponya

Frank Maponya

A man from Seshego, Limpopo, escaped death when his house was gutted by fire in a bizarre event.

Jonathan Mabala, 38, said he still could not figure out exactly what happened a fortnight ago while he was asleep.

He had left his wife Daphney in the sitting room and went to sleep. He woke up at about 1am to find his house on fire, with neighbours trying to extinguish the blaze, and his wife missing.

Mabala said his wife was found unconscious on the Tarentaal road outside Tzaneen three days after the mysterious fire.

He said a female police officer in Tzaneen, who identified herself as Inspector Modjadji, telephoned him and asked if he knew Daphney Mabala.

"I told the officer that Daphney was my wife. The officer told me she was at Letaba Hospital after she was found unconscious on a road."

The woman was later detained and questioned by the police, but was released two days later.

Inspector Mohlaka Mashiane said the woman told them she had been abducted by three men who ordered her to vacate the house before dousing it with petrol and setting it alight.