DURBAN - The family of a homeless man may never get to know that he died in a fire in a Durban sub-station in which he and his friends were sheltering from cold weather on Thursday afternoon.
Thami, his girlfriend Tamia, and friends Sifiso, Sanele (surnames unknown) and Siyanda Mthethwa had been sleeping at a sub-station on Mahatma Gandhi Road near Shoprite for months.
According to Mthethwa, who showed the Sunday Tribune burn marks on his hand, the group broke into the shelter on Thursday for warmth and lit cigarettes.
He described how the survivors had fought to exit while Thami’s body was engulfed in flames.
“We had to fight to reach the small door after the blaze had reached the ceiling of the sub-station.
During the commotion I heard a skull cracking. Thami’s screams were deafening but we were unable to help. The smell of burning flesh was suffocating,” he said.
Mthethwa claimed that the fire was started when a damp blanket Thami was carrying came into contact with an uncovered live wire.
Car guard Lindo Ngcongo, 21, said he saw Tamia run out of the sub-station calling for help. “She was pointing to her boyfriend (Thami), who was screaming in pain,” he said.
Friends of Tamia who also live on the streets said she had been traumatised. Sifiso and Sanele were said to be recovering in Addington Hospital.
But the issue was much larger for Wiseman Hadebe, 20, who saw Thami burn to death.
“After the fire, blood-soaked bones lay in the ashes. His flesh was gone, only fluid was left. The body had melted. I am still trembling. I suffer nightmares. It haunts me,” he said.
Hadebe said the group had lit cigarettes and Whoonga, which could have led to the fire.
He said people had used the sub-station room for years - it costs up to R30 a night to stay at shelters, which is often too much for the homeless and unemployed to make in a day.
“We are out here sleeping in places like this because we can’t afford shelters. This will keep happening,” he said.
Mandla Nsele, deputy head of communications at eThekwini Municipality, said the municipality was investigating.