The family of three people who died in theDoornkop building collapsein Soweto, Johannesburg, say they need assistance to bury their loved ones. The victims — 60-year-old mother Hloniphile Xaba, her daughter Nqobile, 24, and Nqobile’s one-year-old daughter Langelihle — were among six people inside a double-storey building that collapsed in Doornkop in the early hours of Sunday. Their relative, Zintle Xaba, said 16 people were living in the building, and only one section of the structure collapsed.
“The other family members were in another room, which did not collapse,” she said. Xaba said she was at work when she received a call informing her of the tragedy but could not immediately go home, as the incident happened at about 1am. She said she had to wait for public transport to be available before making her way home.
“At first, I did not believe the people who called me, but it sank in when I spoke to my brother, and that is when I knew it was real,” she said. Xaba, originally from KwaZulu-Natal, said the family moved into the house in 2021 after struggling to find accommodation. “We didn’t have a place to stay, so we just saw a house, and we started occupying it.
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The house was empty when we occupied it.” She said though the family was scared to occupy a house without knowing who owned it, they were relieved to have shelter. The house was empty when we occupied it.
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