Riot Hlatshwayo

Riot Hlatshwayo

Three vehicles were set alight while parked in a yard in Mpumalanga yesterday.

This happened at KaNyamazane township, east of Nelspruit, shortly after 1am while the owners were asleep.

Gladys Themba, 68, a traditional healer and owner of the home at , told Sowetan that her daughter woke her up at night shouting that the vehicles were on fire.

One of the vehicles, a bakkie with a canopy, belonged to Themba, the second one is a Toyota Tazz, whose owner Hlanhla Kubayi, hired a room from Themba and was using the car as a metered taxi.

The third vehicle was a double-cab bakkie belonging to Dumakude Motha, a deputy director in the provincial department of local government and housing in Nelspruit. Motha is also a tenant who rents a room in the yard.

"I don't have any idea as to why the vehicles were torched. The police were here and have promised to investigate," said a shocked Motha yesterday.

Kubayi said: "My worry is that there are many vehicles left in the yards here, but the cruel people just chose ours."

Themba's concern was that her husband was shot dead in an isolated spot at the township's Section 5 in 2001 for a reason that she still does not know.

"I'm not even sure why my husband was killed. And how do I know that whoever killed him is now trying to come after me?" she said.