‘We wanted her alive’, says sister of Midrand complex fire victim

Woman was due to attend boxing tournament

The woman who died in the fire at a Midrand apartment building was an avid boxer who was supposed to have gone to Limpopo for a boxing tournament on the day her remains were found under a collapsed ceiling in her flat.

Onalenna Tsae’s body was discovered by her sister, who had to plead with Johannesburg emergency management services (EMS) to be allowed to enter the gutted building to look for her younger sibling as she had been unaccounted for long after the fire was extinguished.

Matlhogonolo Tsae, 37, said when she walked towards the flat not knowing what awaited her, she kept making up scenarios in her head that placed her sister anywhere but the flat –  at the hospital, with friends, or somewhere else.

However, when they reached the flat, her sister, who would have been 33 years old in December, was found dead under ceiling debris, close to the door.

"It shows this was someone who was running to get out. It is sad. We wanted her alive. I kept believing that maybe, just maybe, she will call,” she said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and police have opened an inquest case.

Matlhogonolo believes her sister died of smoke inhalation and the ceiling falling on her may have had an impact. However, she said she was not an expert and would have to wait for the autopsy report.

It is believed the fire at Broadwalk Urban Village broke out at around 8.30pm on Tuesday. 

According to Matlhogonolo, Onalenna stayed with her partner and their 13-month-old son.

She said at the time of the fire, the baby was with Onalenna’s brother and the boyfriend had not been at the house at the weekend.

The last time she spoke to Onalenna was around 8pm when she told her about the trip to Limpopo for a boxing tournament. She was deputy secretary of the SA National Open Boxing Association.

Soon after midnight, Matlhogonolo received a call from Onalenna’s friend, who told her about the fire.

She said as she made her way to the building, she kept calling Onalenna’s phone but it went unanswered.

After the fire was extinguished, Matlhogonolo said she told police and emergency officials her sister was unaccounted for.

“I kept saying, 'my sister is unaccounted for and she’s not calling'. I then asked an emergency services guy to go and look for her to satisfy myself."

She said an emergency services employee heard her plea and she was taken to an apartment where it was claimed the fire started.

“I told them that’s not where my sister lives. They said, 'we were told this is where the fire started and we searched twice'. I said 'no, you searched the wrong apartment' and I took them to where my sister lived."

EMS spokesperson Xolile Khumalo on Tuesday said the fire started in the apartment where the body of a woman was found.

Neighbours told Sowetan the couple who lived in the apartment where inferno began were heard fighting days before the blaze

However, Matlhogonolo said she did not believe the fire started in Onalenna's flat because her body had not been burnt and neither were her appliances, except the fridge which was only burnt on the outside.

"I’m not an expert but I don’t believe the fire started in her room. If it had, it could have killed her but she was not burnt to ashes. She was recognisable."

There have been claims that Onalenna and her partner were heard arguing days before the fire started.

Matlhogonolo said she would not entertain the claims because they were "nonsense and sending a wrong message".

She said the boyfriend was finding her sister's death difficult and was trying to come to terms with it.

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