Heartbroken widower, 95, loses wife, home in fire

Sharon Mathala | Tuesday May 21, 2024 08:37

 

KANYE: Ogopoleng Mmolaatshephe, 75, was laid to rest last Wednesday in Kanye, but for Ketlhagafetse Mmolaatshephe, the memories of that fateful evening are as vivid as ever. In an intimate conversation, he shared the heart-wrenching details of his last moments with his wife, still grappling with the surreal reality of her absence.

'The fire was a nightmare,' he remembered. 'Our middle daughter was the one who pushed us out, saving us from the flames. But as I stand in the ashes of our home, it feels like a terrible dream.' 'I don’t know what happened to my wife. I was with her outside the house.

Our eldest daughter in the midst of everything had pushed both of us outside the house. I was with her. I saw her,” the widower recalled. With tears welling up in his eyes and falling down his frail skin, Ketlhagafetse reflects on the love and life they built together, now reduced to memories and rubble.

His story is one of unimaginable loss, a deep reminder of how life is so fragile. How she ended up burnt beyond recognition, buried underneath a heap of bricks remains a mystery to him. A mystery that now haunts him. Recalling the events of April 30, he said his wife, his daughter, grandchild, and their child-minder had arrived home from the city after his now deceased wife had gone for her regular check-ups. According to him, he recalls they arrived home in Kanye at around 8pm. He says about an hour or so later, he left their house to use the lavatory outside.

Asked why he used the bathroom outside when they had three inside their house, he explained, “ To save water'. 'We had decided that to save water during the day, we use the outside toilet and so I did what we normally did.” The frail man who took measured steps aided by his walking grandfather stick said on his way back to the main house he suddenly heard screams. At the time, he was confused as to where the screams were coming from. Tearing through his hearing problem, the screams got louder as he slowly approached the house.

His worst nightmare awaited him. “I suddenly saw a weirdly huge light from the house. Our house had glass doors. The screams were even louder. I attempted to open the door to help them,' he related. 'I screamed for help from the neighbours. I managed to get inside the house but just as I did my daughter pushed me and the Mrs outside. I then left her outside the house as I tried to rush to the neighbours to help us call the fire department,” he shared. About two and a half hours later, the firefighters finally arrived. The house and everything else inside had been burnt to ashes. Nothing could be saved, unbeknownst to him, not even his dear wife. At the time, neighbours had descended to their home, adding to having difficulty identifying his wife in the crowd. He then assumed someone might have taken her to safety. Not seeing her, he then got worried. As people started to leave in the wee hours of the morning, he asked the police to help him look for her. “With the help of my children and the police, we searched around for her around the neighbourhood.

We couldn't find her. We tried to call her phone, but it was off. I then took the police and the fire marshals to the last place I saw her,” he further shared. It would take another one hour 45 minutes' search around the house where her body was found. She was burnt beyond recognition. Mmolaatshephe said he was devastated but has accepted that his wife is no more. He finds it difficult to understand how it happened because, to the best of recollection, they were both outside the house. “We don’t know what caused the fire because at the time there was no candle lit or anything that would cause a fire. The police are yet to come here to do their investigations,” he said. He now lives in a tent the government lent him to pitch up at the back of his now burnt house, or what is left of it. The family now pleads for support from Batswana to assist them.

They have accepted their fate that they will probably never recover but they plead for assistance, so the old man could have a decent shelter. His son Merapelo Magogodi, 39, said the family is still struggling to come to terms with what happened. They have lost everything and most importantly their mother. “We don’t know what to do or where to start. We ask that whoever can help please reach out. Atleast if we could get the heap of bricks outside the yard. We have accepted we will probably never have the big house we used to have.”

Contact details: 71518850 WATCH THE INTERVIEW ON OUR YOUTUBE PLATFORM: Mmegiom Online