What was meant to be a day of jubilations turned into misery for mkhulu ....This comes after he Mandisa Mnguni?s (22) from KwaCebekhulu outside Empangeni in the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal (KZN) is still coming to terms with the incident where her step grandmother burnt down her grandfather’s house because she accompanied her biggest day of her life.

HOUSE BURNT DOWN

The incident happened in Esikhaleni township previously known as Esikhawini where an old woman is alleged to have burnt down a house because she did not want her husband to accompany her granddaughter to a graduation ceremony. Hlengiwe who was meant to celebrate her milestone of obtain her degree in Psychology did not after she received the news that her step grandmother burnt down the house because she did not want the grandfather to attend it with her. According to neighbours who witnessed the incident, the house was burnt down on Wednesday two hours later after the grandfather left the house to pick up the granddaughter to her graduation ceremony. "I was watching the morning news when I was called by my neighbours to come assist take out the fire. When we tried to understand as to what really that may have caused the fire that burnt down the seven room house, it didn?t make sense at all. The wife of my neighbour told us different stories that didn?t make sense. We decided to call the husband and informed him of what was happening, and we were shocked to learn that the house was burnt down deliberately," the neighbour said. Another neighbour said that they decided to call firefighters because the blaze was huge. "We were shocked to learn that the wife decides to burn down the house because she was jealous that the husband was attending the graduation ceremony of her granddaughter from the first wife. I guess she is jealous because they don?t have kids together with the husband. The first wife is the one who has kids with the first wife. It is said because the husband has retired and he made sure that he buys the second wife a nice home which is fully furnished," the neighbour said. Mnguni said that she was pleading to anyone who may assist her get a job so that she can be able to rebuild the house of her grandfather. "It was supposed to be the biggest day of my life but it turned into a nightmare when they told me that my step grandmother burnt down the house because she didn?t want my grandfather to accompany me to the biggest day of my life. All I want to do now is to get a job and rebuild my grandfather?s house which was burnt down because she accompanied me to see me graduating after he sacrificed a lot for me. 

THE HEARTBREAK

"My grandfather never showed me that he was aware that his house was on fire the time he came to pick me up to the ceremony. I was heartbroken when they told me after the ceremony that the house had been burnt down because he came through for me. I don’t know what may have cause such anger because we are a family," she said. Mnguni said that her grandfather is currently back in the village with his first wife after the incident. "At the moment my grandfather is not in a good state to talk to the media as he is still processing what happened in his house. I feel sorry for him and if I knew that this was going to happen, I was going to tell my grandfather not to accompany me to the ceremony. What is more painful is that my step grandmother warned my grandfather that she was going to burn it down and she did, " the neighbour said.KZN Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed the incident.

"Police in Esikhaleni have opened a case of arson for investigation after a house was burnt down on Umthimbakazana Street, H2 Section in Esikhaleni on Wednesday.

"Police responded to reports of a house which was on fire and upon, firefighters were already at the scene attempting to extinguish the fire. Information at police disposal is that a woman was with her husband when electricity went off and the husband went to the electric meter and pulled it up before leaving the house. It is alleged that moments later there was a smell inside the house and then the fire broke," he said.