The community of Itsani Thivhulawi, and the Mbumi family in particular, are left with many unanswered questions after an arson incident that razed part of a four-room house owned by Mr Khathutshelo Mbumi.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Friday, 5 July, around 02:00. The 30-year-old Mbumi, who lives alone, was doing night shift at the time of the fire. He works as a merchandiser for one of the leading chain stores in Thohoyandou.

“I switched off my phone to charge it at work and, upon turning it back on around 05:00, I was swamped with messages alerting me that my house was on fire. I rushed home to find neighbours and firefighters still struggling with the fire,” he said.

Mbumi said that what worried him was that the firefighters had noticed his fence had been cut. He is convinced that someone broke into his property and started the fire.

“I am a peace-loving person and I presume I have no enemies. I fail to understand who would want to see me dead. The fire was started in my room, which means I was the intended victim,” he said.

Mbumi said that he had been left in the care of his grandmother, Ms Alidzuli Mudau, after his parents had passed away years ago. “As my grandmother grew older, I could not take care of her, and she had to go back to our former village, Mulenzhe. The house is not even mine as I speak,” he said.

The incident was widely condemned by the leadership of the village. The SANCO leader at Itsani Thivhulawi, Ms. Ntaka Mathoni, described the incident as a “sheer act of criminality.”