Gugulethu police are on the hunt for a man who allegedly killed his girlfriend by setting her alight.
Department of Community Safety employee Jacqueline Mpontsana, 40, died because she refused to sleep in the same room as her 38-year-old boyfriend.
It is alleged that the suspect, Lwazi Sibindana, went to a nearby garage and bought two litres of petrol with which he doused the mother of one and then set her on fire in front of his horrified family.
His aunt Yolisa Tingwa, 44, says: “My nephew and Jackie had been in an on-and-off relationship for some time now and he was always abusive towards her.
“We had been asking her to leave him and we tried to stand up for her but he would also assault me.
“On Monday, Lwazi tried to force her to go to bed with him and she said she would rather sleep in the lounge.
“He left for a few minutes and when he came back, he had two litres of a green liquid, we naively thought that it was creme soda because it was in a Jive bottle.”
She also didn’t suspect anything when he poured the contents of the bottle on the victim.
“I didn’t know it was petrol, I didn’t see him with matches or anything, I just saw Jackie go up in flames and she was screaming and running around.”
The traumatised woman tells the Daily Voice they managed to get out of the burning house while Jacqueline jumped through the bathroom window.
They then called the victim’s mom Mandisa Mpontsana, 79, to the scene.
Mandisa says: “I rushed there and she was in such a bad condition. When she got to the hospital, the doctor said that he had no hope of her recovering and that I should prepare myself for her death.”
Jacqueline passed away on Tuesday at 3.30pm.
Police spokesperson Colonel André Traut says: “The suspect fled the scene and he is yet to be arrested.”
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz says Jackie was first appointed in his department in 2005.
“Over the years, Jackie had become one of the most experienced staff members in monitoring SAPS on compliance in terms of the Domestic Violence Act,” said the MEC.
“What makes her passing especially tragic is that her work entailed inspecting SAPS stations for their compliance to assist victims of domestic and gender-based violence.
“It is incredibly upsetting. We cannot surrender in the face of this scourge. We have to keep fighting, for Jackie, and for every other victim like her.”