Family house burns down as people watch

A Soweto house that is only seven minutes away from the Jabulani fire station burnt down to the ground on Saturday. That's because for almost a year, the station has had no fire engine. 

According to Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi, it has been almost a year since the fire engine at Jabulani fire station went for repairs. 

"Yes, we do have the issue of shortage, and we are not running away from it," he said.

However, this is cold comfort for 62-year-old Julia Makhanya, who is heartbroken after the house she worked all her life for is now lying in ruins.

Makhanya was visiting her sister in Protea when she received a call from neighbours that her house was on fire after electricity was restored at midnight. 

“I was helpless seeing my house burning to ashes. I worked for over 37 years depriving myself the gratification of this world for this house, telling myself that when I go on pension I want to relax and enjoy my pension money. It’s painful," she said.

The fire almost claimed the life of Makhaya's 26-year-old daughter Refilwe, who was sleeping alone in the house.

She told Sowetan that she woke up from a bad dream just before 2am and fell from her bed, and that’s when she heard banging sounds at the door. She then thought someone was breaking in. 

But when she opened her bedroom door, the house was filled with smoke, and it was dark.

“I remembered that [according to fire drills] when there’s fire you have to crawl, and I blindly crawled in the kitchen looking for keys. I found them and opened the door. The minute I jumped out of the kitchen door, the house exploded,” said Refilwe.  

After escaping the fire, Refilwe said her mother's tenants called the fire fighters, who told them they didn't have fire trucks and that they will get back to them in an hour's time.

She said together with a friend, they drove to the fire station to seek answers. “When we got to Jabulani, we were told there were no trucks available.

"We drove to another station in Dobsonville, and that was after two hours... and the fire was already uncontrollable. Neighbours tried to extinguish the fire but that was not enough,” she said.

Mulaudzi said it’s only Jabulani fire station that does not have a fire engine, while other local fire stations have enough to cover the area.  

“If a member of the community goes to Jabulani fire station to request for our service, our emergency call centre will activate other fire stations in Soweto to respond. The family was not supposed to even drive to [Dobsonville] as the crew was supposed to go beyond the call of duty to dispatch the nearest available vehicle in the area.”

Eskom spokesperson Innocentia Zabala confirmed that prior to the fire, the area experienced an outage that had interrupted electricity supply to Moroka.

She said supply was restored early in the afternoon to certain parts of Moroka, including the Makhanya household.

"Technicians continued to work on restoring supply to the remaining affected customers. On August 10, before switching on supply to the customers that were still without electricity, supply was switched off to the rest of the customers as it is part of the switch-on process, and shortly thereafter supply to the whole area was restored," said Zabala. 

EMS's Xolile Khumalo said two fire trucks were dispatched to the Makhanya's house and arrived at 4am.

Khulamo said the cause of fire was undetermined because the house was destroyed, yet the family suspects power surge that took place before the fire.  

Mulaudzi said he could not speak on the fire engine tender that was meant to provide more engines in the city but has since stalled over the years.

Makhanya's family is currently surviving on handouts from their tenants and neighbours. They are requesting for Good Samaritans to provide help.

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