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SENATE HOPEFULâ€™S HOUSE GUTTED BY FIRE

By Mbono Mdluli | 2018-10-16

FORMER journalist and Senate hopeful, Senzo Dlamini’s two-bedroom house was gutted by fire on Sunday afternoon.

The fire was started by his 15 year old child, who forgot to switch off an electric iron which he used to iron his clothes in preparation for a church service on Sunday. The church service is said to have started at 11am, which means the child, who attends school at Elangeni High, could have left the iron on at about 10:30am.

The iron was left on for about seven hours, before the fire started inside the bedroom where the boy had left it on.

This means the fire started at about 5:30pm, burning everything that was in the bedroom. The damage, according to Dlamini, is worth about E100 000.

The house consists of two bedrooms, sitting room, kitchen, bathroom, and a pantry. It took eight years for the former journalist to build the house, which cost him about E300 000. He had been living in the house for two years before the unfortunate incident.

Speaking to this publication yesterday, Dlamini said this had come as a huge blow to him. He said the incident traumatised his child because he blames himself for the damage. Dlamini said child was left with the clothes he was wearing. He said he did not blame his son for the damage that happened to the house.

This is the first time the child left the iron on hence he believed that the child made a mistake, which turned out to be very costly.

All of his clothes were burnt and some of the burnt clothes were still new.

School books belonging to the young boy were also burnt. The boy did not go to school yesterday due to the fact that he no longer had the necessary tools that would aid his learning.

Dlamini said the boy will go to school today to explain the unfortunate incident that befell him. He hoped the authorities of the school would understand the situation and allow him to continue with his learning for the year.

Dlamini thanked his neighbours and the Eswatini National Fire and Emergency Services for having responded to the situation. Without them, Dlamini said, the damage would have been worse. The house has developed bigger cracks because of the incident. Dlamini said there could be a need for renovations, especially in the bedroom where the fire started.

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