A Limpopo woman, who had waited years to receive an RDP house, has lost it in the fire after her son's friend burnt it down following an argument at a tavern. Selina Phiri, a 52-year- old single mother from Lephepane outside Tzaneen, couldn't believe her eyes when she was called to rush home on Monday morning. Her house was gutted, her clothes, important documents and furniture had all gone up in flames.                                                                                                                                                  "I felt like dying when I got home to find my house like that. I work too hard for my children and I don't deserve this. Where am I going to start rebuilding it?" she asked.

FIGHT AT LOCAL TAVERN

Phiri says when she asked who set her house alight she was told it was a young man her 34-year-old son Petros had fought with at a local tavern over the weekend.Her son who is unemployed and still depending on her vanished soon after the house was set alight. The son's friend who stays in the same village was assaulted by the community soon after the incident.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                "I don't even know what the fight was about to push that boy to burn my house. Why didn't he just hit my son and leave my house alone?

STRUGGLING FOR YEARS

Phiri said for years she struggled working at farms and doing odd jobs washing clothes and cleaning for people to make ends meet. With the little salary she got from her employers, all she could afford was the basic grocery items and school uniforms for her children. In 2006 she was lucky to have been identified by the local chief to receive the RDP. With two bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen she was ecstatic, finally her kids would have a place to call home. They finally didn't have to worry about the leaking shack roof when it is raining. "It's now all gone. I am forced to share a small shack with my other three children. I'm so stressed because I don't know how I am going to rebuild the house,"

SHE IS DEFEATED AND CAN'T GO TO WORK

As a general farm worker Phiri says she can only afford to buy food, pay for funeral covers and buy clothes after a few months. Since the incident she had not been able to go to work as she is stressed and doesn't feel well emotionally. She wishes her son could come back and explain what really pushed the suspect to want to destroy their home. "Maybe his explanation will make me.feel better because at the moment this whole thing doesn't make sense to me. I am defeated,"

SUSPECT IN HOSPITAL

Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba confirmed that a case of arson had been opened against a 32-year-old man. "The suspect was taken to hospital for treatment after he was assaulted by the mob and he has since been taken into custody and charged. He will appear in the Ritavi Magistrates Court soon," Ledwaba said.