An elderly woman is deeply shaken after nearly being unable to escape her burning house in Xolani on Sunday 6 October.
An elderly woman is deeply shaken after nearly being unable to escape her burning house in Xolani on Sunday 6 October.
"I don't know how I escaped," she said. "I know that I went out through the window, but I'm don't know how. I know that I first removed the children from the house."
She is lucky to be alive after her granddaughter's ex-boyfriend allegedly set fire to her home in the early hours.
They believe the man set it alight because he doesn't want to accept that the relationship with his ex is over.
The fire started in the ex-girlfriend's room. She may have died had she not been somewhere else.
Her grandmother, 75, says she hasn't been able to sleep since the fire. "I can't sleep because he says he is not done by burning the house, there's still more to come."
The emotional elderly woman said her granddaughter cannot walk around alone but, "we thank God because we could have died".
This isn't the first time this man has caused problems for the family, the woman's uncle says.
"Two weeks back he removed a computer from [my niece's room]at night. When I saw him I shouted 'here's a thief!' and he ran out and jumped over the fence and escaped," he said.
Since the fire the family can only use two rooms in their six-room house. Kind neighbours have given them blankets and other essential items.
The woman said she and her 33-year-old ex-boyfriend had been together for three years.
Things turned nasty when she tried to break up with him recently.
She told Grocott's Mail that she fears for her life after breaking up with him, as she has received death threats via SMS.
One said "Uzakufa", which directly translated means "you are going to die".
Another text message seen by Grocott's Mail says, "Uzakufa lomfana uthandana naye, akazokubulawa ndim uzakufa kodwa".
Loosely translated this means "The man you are involved with is going to die, I am not going to kill him myself, but he is going to die."
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing.
