Dumisani Somiso Hlatshwayo, 40, allegedly killed his ex-lover Siphesihle Mthabela, 24, and their two daughters, Siphosethu, 4, and Kwanele, 3, inside her shack before fleeing the scene in Kingsway, Benoni, on 23 December.

• A Gauteng woman is demanding answers from the man charged with burning her niece and her two minor children to death inside their shack.
• The children’s father fled the scene and was later arrested in Mpumalanga.
• He has since appeared in court facing arson and three murder charges.

“Why did he kill them?” a distraught aunt asked after the arrest of a man for allegedly starting a fire that claimed the lives of three of her loved ones.

“What offence have they done to him to kill them?” Langelihle Shezi questioned.

“Why didn’t he speak to me if he had problems with my niece? Why didn’t he die, too?”

Dumisani Somiso Hlatshwayo, 40, allegedly attacked his ex-lover Siphesihle Mthabela, 24, and their two daughters, Siphosethu, 4, and Kwanele, 3, inside her shack before fleeing the scene in Kingsway, Benoni, on 23 December.

The victims were attacked in their sleep around 02:00 before Hlatshwayo allegedly doused the shack with a flammable liquid and set it alight.

Shezi’s shack is within walking distance from her niece Mthabela’s home.

On the morning of the murders, Shezi was woken by a phone call from Mthabela’s landlord.

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“The landlord asked me to rush to Siphesihle’s home because something had happened. I ran to her shack [and] was greeted by the house engulfed [by flames].

“People were preventing me from going further. I pleaded with them to release me. They did. Walking closer to the gate, I saw Siphosethu on the ground. She was naked, and her face was covered with a T-shirt.”

Shezi lifted Siphosethu up and shook her, but she didn’t respond.

She then noticed that the little girl’s face and hands were badly burnt.

While lifting Siphosethu, Shezi saw Mthabela, who was lying naked on her stomach near the door, with severe burn wounds. 

“I asked her what happened. She replied that the father of her children set them alight,” Shezi recalled.

“She said she was woken by Hlatshwayo knocking on the window. He then broke it [the window] after she refused to open the door. Hlatshwayo then poured a flammable liquid on her body and her bed where she and the little ones lay.

“She said Hlatshwayo told her that he was there to kill her and his children. He said he loved them and that was why he was killing them.”

Dumisani Somiso Hlatshwayo, 40, allegedly killed his ex-lover Siphesihle Mthabela, 24, and their two daughters.

News24 Sharlene Rood/News24

Siphesihle Mthabela was allegedly killed by her ex-lover Dumisani Somiso Hlatshwayo.

Sharlene Rood/News24

Siphosethu Mthabele.

Sharlene Rood/News24

Kwanele Mthabela.

Sharlene Rood/News24

Shezi claimed Hlatshwayo lit a match, which ignited the blaze.

Mthabela is said to have wrapped her children in a blanket before attempting to flee. But the door was locked.

“The house was engulfed. The smoke was heavy. The clothes they wore and the blanket also caught fire as she battled to open the door. Mthabela managed to break down the door but only managed to take Siphosethu outside.

“She could not return to save Kwanele as the fire was raging. While she was outside, she saw Hlatshwayo running away. I was fortunate that I recorded everything she told me on my cellphone,” Shezi said.

READ | Gauteng cops investigating triple murder after bodies found in burnt out shack

Shezi said when an ambulance arrived, Mthabela pleaded with paramedics to rush her children to hospital and return for her later.

“Paramedics told her that her girls had died. I saw pain in her eyes. I felt her pain as she screamed, calling their names.”

Mthabela died on arrival at a local hospital. Hlatshwayo had also sustained burn wounds to his body during the incident, Shezi said.

After the fire had been extinguished, Shezi entered the shack where she found Kwanele’s charred remains.

The child was burnt beyond recognition, Shezi said.

She claimed Mthabela broke up with Hlatshwayo following physical and emotional abuse.

“Later that day [of the fire], Hlatshwayo’s uncle called him, asking him to hand himself over to the police. He refused, saying he was fleeing to Eswatini.”

Shezi took the recording of what Mthabela told her to the police.

Arrest

Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said a search was launched for Hlatshwayo.

The provincial Serious and Violent Crime Investigation Unit tracked Hlatshwayo to a hiding place in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga, where he was arrested on Saturday.

Hlatshwayo appeared in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, facing a charge of arson and three counts of murder.

He is expected back in court on 22 January.