An elderly woman who went to her relatives for the holidays returned to find her home burnt to the ground.
Sophie van Niekerk, 87, from Knorhoek Way, Voorbrug, says she lost everything after a neighbour’s son lit a match and threw it in a paint blik last Monday.
“I don’t know how he got the matches but I suspect it belonged to my son who was sleeping in the bungalow outside,” she says.
“He was just playing, maybe he wanted to see what would happen if he threw the match in paint.
“At the time I was at my other son’s home out of Cape Town.
“Sadly, when I returned, the house was gutted.”
The ouma says the six-year-old boy was not injured in the blaze.
“When he threw the match in the can, there was an explosion.
“The boy managed to escape.”
The pensioner says she doesn’t know how she will rebuild the house.
Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Jermaine Carelse says no injuries were reported and the fire was extinguished at 3.58pm.
If anyone has donations for Sophie, please contact her on 073 340 5812.
Meanwhile, a four-year-old child was rescued from a blaze in Delft on Sunday afternoon.
The fire started while Chadwin Goliath was sleeping in a Wendy house in his Rosendaal home.
His father Christian Bennett says his druggie brother set his bungalow on fire.
“I was told the fire started from his place and it came to mine and if it wasn’t for my neighbour, my son would have died,” he says.
“His mom went to the shops and didn’t want to wake him up, she asked my other brother to look after Chadwin.”