Limpopo Father Allegedly Torches Home with Himself and Daughters Inside

LIMPOPO – The Police in Ritavi outside Tzaneen, South Africa, have opened two counts of murder and Inquest after a 51-year-old man and his two daughters – aged 9 and 13 –  tragically burned to death in their house in Nkowankowa Township this morning at about 07h00.

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), the family’s neighbours apparently saw the house engulfed in flames and jumped over the fence to desperately try and rescue those inside the house. They managed to break one of the windows and rescue the father… but he had already suffered from smoke inhalation and died on the scene.

The intense blaze and smoke forced the would-be rescuers out of the house, said SAPS.

Police and Emergency personnel, as well as fire fighters, were immediately summoned to the scene. Sadly, once the fire was extinguished, the burnt bodies of the two children – Mikateko Tonia Mboweni (13) and Tsakane Tilda Mboweni (9) – were found in separate rooms. It is believed the father, named as Gledwin Mboweni by police, was employed by Statistics SA as its Acting District Manager in the Mopani District.

SAPS said: “Preliminary police investigations revealed that the relationship between the deceased and his wife became strained and that they were separated for the past four years. The daughters were staying with the father in Nkowankowa while the mother was staying in Vhembe.”

Police suspect Mboweni set the house alight using a highly flammable substance.