A Kraaifontein family is looking for answers after their brother mysteriously died in a fire while sitting in his car in the yard.
The incident happened on Wednesday on Verbena Street in Scottsville.
According to his family, John Jantjies, 52, went to go sit in the white Renault parked in their yard that morning.
His hartseer sister Sophie Jantjies, 58, says they have no idea what caused the fire.
He says: “I was walking in the street on my way home when the neighbour ran up to me and said that my brother had burned inside the car.
“When I got home they had taken him out already and his body was lying on the ground.
“The neighbours said they smelled the smoke and a woman who walked past the house saw the fire and managed to get him out of the burning vehicle. He was still alive, although his pulse was flou.
“Ek wil net vir haar baie dankie sê dat sy my broer probeer red het. Dit was braaf van haar.”
When the Daily Voice arrived in Verbena Street, paramedics from Titanium Securitas who had been trying to resuscitate John declared him dead at the scene.
John still had his hands in front of his face like he was trying to protect himself and was loaded into the mortuary van in this position.
A hartseer Sophie says: “I didn’t want to look at his body. I wanted to remember him the way he always was, with a smile on his face.”
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk says Kraaifontein police registered an inquest.
He reports that: “Circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation. It is unknown how the fire started. Investigations continue.”
Sophie says John had one son and was also a grandfather and adds: “We have no idea how the fire started or what led up to it.
“John was a smoker, we don’t know if he smoked that morning. The car was broken and belonged to someone else who just parked it here.”
She says they now face another battle as they try to arrange John’s funeral, with the family needing to raise R1 700 to release his body from the morgue.
Sophie pleads: “My brother did not have an identity document or a funeral policy. He did not work.
“This is a heavy burden for me as a single parent. I need help to lay my brother to rest.
If you’d like to assist, call Sophie on 064 210 9421, or Keihice Jantjies on 072 328 6468.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za