Praise for the Unsung Hero of the Tragic Hostel Fire

Facebook users are doing their utmost to give credit where it’s due, to a young man who bravely risked his life in the early hours of Monday 24 August 2015 to save the lives of several girls trapped in the burning girls’ hostel at North West Secondary School for the Deaf in Leeudoringstad.

Thabiso Moruti, who appears to be a fellow student at the school, apparently awoke at 2 am and instead of running away, he ran towards the girls’ hostel and managed to rescue 14 girls who were trapped in their rooms.

Four days later, after the memorial service, a Potchefstroom student from North West University (NWU) – Qobo Ningiza – uploaded the following message and photo to his Facebook status, calling for credit to be given to Thabiso for his bravery which had gone unnoticed in the local press. (Qobo himself is an inspiration – he is NWU’s first deaf student with a sign language translator who won’t let anything get in the way of his dreams to become an attorney.)

One Facebook commenter Tlou Augustine Letlalo, who was also at the memorial service, agreed that Thabiso is the “unsung hero” and said it was disappointing that neither “his name or his heroic actions” were mentioned at the service.

Here’s Qobo Ningiza’s full message about Thabiso Moruti as it appeared on Facebook here:

“As we mourn the death of three young women who died in egregious circumstances, our attention has focused on the pain resulting from the loss of our loved ones, yet we have forgotten a hero, Thabiso Moruti.

“In the morning of 24 August 2015 fire broke out at a girls’ hostel at the North West Secondary school for the Deaf that took the lives of three young women and injured 13 others who have since been hospitalised.

“Thanks to the selflessness of this young man who woke up around 02:00am, put on some pants and ran shirtless to the burning hostel to save other children’s lives, risking his own life in the process.

“He did not think about what could happen to him as he ran inside a hostel that was in flames, a hostel he barely knows inside, and he meticulously searched every room to rescue as many people as he could.

“By the grace of God, he found 14 girls trapped in some of the hostel rooms and led them to safety, carrying those who were weak from smoke inhalation. None of the children could see because of the smoke resulting from the flames and they struggled to find the exit doors, but this did not stop this young man from going in and out of a burning house to ensure that everyone was out, risking his own life in the process.

“It is unfortunate that the incident has been all over the media this week, but no one mentioned the altruism of this young man who has done what many of us have never done, would never have done and are unlikely to ever do: risking own lives to save other people.

“Thabiso, if you happen to read this any time, know that you are a hero not only to the girls whose lives you saved, but to millions of people worldwide. Live your life knowing that you beat all odds by placing your life on the line to save others while people stood passively, afraid of what would happen to them. You have done what many great and celebrated men have never done and would not have done.

“May God bless your soul!!!”

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Ironically Qobo’s message above – calling for Thabiso to be given credit – was copied and pasted by someone else a few days later who omitted to give credit to Qobo (and changed the last sentence to “Hat’s off to you sir”)…and who is now being quoted on other websites as the person credited with bringing Thabiso’s heroism to the fore.

Almost exactly a week after the girls’ hostel fire, another fire swept through a North West hostel in the middle of the night, earlier this week – this time at the boys’ hostel at Volks High School in Potchefstroom. There were no casualties and an electrical fault is suspected to be the cause of that fire.

Thank you Thabiso Moruti for your bravery. And Qobo Ningiza for highlighting it!