Mayor Dan Plato yesterday visited a Mitchells Plain home where five people perished in a fire on Friday night.
Emotional relatives gathered at the house where Rosetta Arendse, 64, her grandchildren Franklin Peters 18, sisters Stephanie, eight, and Rabia Muller, five, and Rosetta’s boyfriend Obin van Wyk, 49, died at the Wendy house in Buffelshoek Street, Tafelsig.
Another grandchild, two-year-old Zahier Muller, was taken to Mitchells Plain Day Hospital with burn wounds to his hands and forehead.
Neighbour Lesley John Dreyer, 37, says he heard someone screaming for help.
“The person was screaming and shouting for help,” he says.
“I went out to the yard and found a woman who was crying, when I got to the burning structure there was just smoke, but I could see a man who was partially charred and there was a child and I grabbed him.
“When I went back to get more people, the lady said it’s too late, I can’t get them.”
WITNESS: Lesley John Dreyer. Video: Mandilakhe Tshwete
The little girls’ mother, Victoria Muller, 34, who is pregnant with her fourth child, says the children were visiting their ouma for the weekend.
“My two daughters died in the fire and the third child survived the blaze but he has been left badly burnt,” she says.
“We don’t live around here, we are in Eastridge, the kids were visiting their grandma who was with her boyfriend.”
Victoria says her son has since been discharged from hospital.
“My brother came to tell us that morning about the fire, he is one of the survivors, he was hysterical.
“At the time, we didn’t know what happened and then he told us about the incident.
“We rushed to the scene and when we got there, the fire had already been extinguished and there were police.
“The Wendy house my mom lived in was completely destroyed by the fire.”
Fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse says: “The City’s Fire and Rescue Service was called at 4.08am and told that children were trapped inside a burning structure.
“When crews from Mitchells Plain Fire Station arrived at the scene in Buffelshoek Street, they found a Wendy house engulfed in flames,” he says.
“A man, woman and three children were declared deceased on scene and one boy was treated for burn wounds.”
The cause of the fire is unknown.
Yesterday Mayor Plato visited the scene where all that remained were the ashes of the Wendy house.
“It’s really a tragedy and we are here to express our deepest sympathy to the family of the deceased,” he says.
“The main idea from our side is to see how best the council and the councillors can assist. We believe there is no burial funds.”
The mayor also promised to help remove the debris from the Buffelshoek Street home.