Mario Laaistock aka Amigo, the blind musician from Eerste River who appealed for donations early in January after his family home went up in flames has been accused of keeping all the donations to himself and not sharing with the “real victims”.
This is according to his niece, Abigail Wildschutt, 28, who says that she and her 56-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia, are the real victims and have not received any of the donations delivered to the house in Goldstein Street.
She says the fire took place after midnight and her mom woke her up, and they managed to flee.
Wildschutt says: “Mario Laaistock aka Amigo was not affected by the fire as he lives in his furnished bungalow behind the main house. All he lost was electricity.”
She says she and her mom “lost everything” and are now separated – living by different relatives – while the City of Cape Town dropped some donations, “Mario would say it is strictly for him and his family. We are not welcome, he chased us away and said we must ‘f****.’”
Laaistock, 40, has denied the allegations and called Wildschutt a “troublemaker”.
Laaistock says: “I never gave anyone wrong information. This is my late parents’ house. We are sitting without bathrooms, water and electricity.
“I reached out to people who can help us with resources to rebuild the house because it is private property and there is no insurance on the house. I shared whatever I got with them and nobody chased her away.”
Disaster Risk Management Centre spokesperson, Charlotte Powell, says: “The City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre sent a request to Sassa to provide humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of this incident.”
Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for the City’s Fire and Rescue Service, says the cause of the fire is unknown.