Family devastated as home burns

A retired solider and his family lost most of their belongings in a fire that gutted their home in Westering, Port Elizabeth, yesterday.

Koko Sikunyana, 47, managed only to save his vehicle, a Hyundai Tucson, along with his brother’s VW Polo Vivo.

Sikunyana smelt smoke early yesterday after dropping his two children at school.

“When I got back from the school everyone else was still asleep. I decided to wash the dishes when I noticed the smell of something burning.”

Sikunyana saw smoke coming from the main bedroom.

“We do not use an electric blanket, [so] I can’t say how the fire started.”

He then woke up his family and a guest.

“We couldn’t save anything from the rooms.”

But then Sikunyana remembered the vehicles in the garage.

“I had to break the [car] windows to get into [them].”

Sikunyana’s wife, Nonzaliseko, who declined to give her age, said they were uninsured.

“At this moment we are stuck. We don’t know what we are going to do.

“I don’t know what is going to become of us, we are just in pain.”

Ward 9 councillor Heinrich Muller said various household goods were delivered to the family.

Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron confirmed the fire.

“The cause of the fire is still unknown at this stage. We were not requested by the owner to [conduct] a formal investigation.”