Kabelo Masoabi
HUNDREDS of mourners gathered at Ha Shonapase to bury Malefu Sephula, a woman remembered as a tireless community servant, two weeks after she suffered fatal burns when the taxi she had boarded minutes earlier caught fire.
Sephula, 45, died in hospital on 14 August 2026, two days after the blaze. Two other passengers, including a child, were hospitalised but survived.
According to accounts given at the funeral, the fire broke out inside the vehicle’s cabin about two minutes after Sephula boarded it on the morning of 12 August, on her way to work. Passengers struggled to escape through the main passenger door as flames spread through the cabin.
A video of the incident, which circulated widely on social media, showed Sephula engulfed in flames and screaming for help. The footage has since raised pointed questions about the conduct of bystanders at the scene.
Family member Taole Morahanye thanked Seabata Mosiuoa, who used whatever was on hand to fight the flames in an attempt to save Sephula. But Morahanye said the family remained angry at the person who filmed the incident rather than helping.
“Maybe if he had contributed in saving her, she could have survived, but instead he decided to shoot a video and is heard calling other people to help her,” Morahanye told mourners.
Community councillor Lekhooa Molibetsane criticised what he called the misuse of social media by young people “seeking popularity,” and questioned whether the taxi had carried a fire extinguisher that could have contained the blaze.
Minister demands answers on taxi safety
Maputsoe legislator and Minister of Sports Mputi Stephen Mputi, speaking on behalf of government, called Sephula’s death “a devastating loss to her family, the community and the government.”
He said government bore responsibility for the safety of public transport and roads, and called for a formal investigation into the taxi’s condition.
“Was safety observed in this taxi? I wonder. An investigation needs to be done,” he said, adding that Mosiuoa would need counselling after witnessing the incident.
Allegations against taxi owner
The circumstances of the fire have strained relations between the Sephula family and the taxi’s owner, who this publication was informed was driving the vehicle at the time. It is alleged that, before setting off, he added five litres of petrol to the tank and poured some fuel directly into the engine’s carburettor before starting the vehicle. These allegations could not be independently verified.
Morahanye stopped short of assigning blame outright.
“In scenarios where death ends like this, someone has to be held accountable, but only the court will prove if one is guilty or not,” he said.
A family repeatedly touched by tragedy
Sephula’s death was the third time fire or a road accident had struck close to her family. Years earlier, she survived being dragged beneath a moving truck after it snagged her clothing; bystanders alerted the unaware driver in time to save her. Then, on 21 June last year, her brother’s child died when a Sprinter minibus and two private vehicles caught fire at Ha Molipa in Kolonyama, Leribe – a crash that killed 11 people, nine at the scene and two on arrival at hospital, and hospitalised eight others, including a seven-year-old.
Remembered as the community’s “ears”
Born on 17 August 1981, the second-born child in her family, Sephula spent four years at Reflex Shoe Factory before joining Johnson Workwear Factory, where she worked for 19 years until her death.
Her supervisor, Malebohang Moletsane, said she had never once heard a complaint about Sephula despite the range of personalities she worked alongside. “We remember her with her love, peace, hard work and speed,” Moletsane said.
Neighbours described her as a “workhorse” who regularly helped bereaved families prepare funerals – and noted, in a detail that has stayed with them, that she had settled her debts with burial societies just weeks before her death.
“She woke up with no pain, but in just minutes she was gone,” one neighbour said.
Mourners were told Sephula never regained consciousness after the crash, remaining unconscious from the Wednesday of the accident until her death on the Friday. She is survived by a daughter and a three-year-old granddaughter.
Councillor Molibetsane said her contribution to the community went beyond her own household. “She was my ears, informing me when anything goes wrong in the community. She worked hard to see that an illegal dumping site vanished,” he said.
Morahanye thanked the community for its support during the family’s mourning, including villagers who carried firewood from the Mohokare River to the homestead on their shoulders.