Selma Ikela
Windhoek-The drunken rage of a Windhoek resident left three families from Goreangab informal settlement homeless, allegedly following an arson attack on his girlfriend’s shack.
The fire also destroyed two shacks adjacent to the girlfriend’s dwelling.
The incident happened on Friday evening around 22h00. The unemployed man fled the scene but was arrested on Saturday morning in the vicinity.
He is expected to appear in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court today.
The shack owner Petrina Sturrman lost all her belongings and those of her children. Stuurman had two tenants on her erven and their shacks were also engulfed in the fire.
Luckily, no one was injured in the fire. It was double tragedy for one of the tenants as last Friday she had visited Gobabis for a burial but she returned immediately on Saturday after she was informed about the incident.
Stuurman said her boyfriend came home drunk on Friday evening and started arguing with her.
She said for the past two weeks, they have been quarrelling every day and it was her boyfriend who usually started the fights. She said the arguments made her two daughters fathered by another man uncomfortable. When they started arguing on Friday again, her eldest daughter called her father to come pick them up. Ironically on Friday afternoon Stuurman and her boyfriend had sought counselling from a community member.
Fed-up with her boyfriend’s arguments she told him to part ways with her.
“I decided no one was sleeping in the house that Friday and he should find another place to sleep for that night. I told the tenant in the adjacent room also to find accommodation for the night. There was no one in the third room as they travelled for a burial. So I locked the house and I went to sleep at the neighbours,” stated Stuurman, adding that she was woken up later when people started screaming that there was a fire in the vicinity.
Before they parted ways the boyfriend reportedly said, “I will show you what I will do tonight.”
Stuurman said the boyfriend went to the neighbours and asked for matches. He broke the padlock, entered the shack and set it on fire and fled. Stuurman, who is employed as domestic worker, said she would appreciate any assistance rendered.
“My eldest child’s school uniform and all her school things were destroyed in the fire. We are left with nothing. I only have what I am wearing,” said Stuurman.
Her unemployed tenant, Kaiser Hans-Peter, who buried the wife over the weekend, shared similar sentiments.
“I don’t know where I am going to sleep. Maybe at a friend’s,” he said, adding that he will appreciate any assistance to rebuild his life and children.
His daughter will miss school today as her uniform and books were destroyed in the fire.