/ 30 November 1999

MAYOR DIES AFTER WOMAN TORCHES CAR

THE mayor of Northam in the Northern Province has died of severe burn wounds after an angry woman torched his vehicle at the weekend, Julius Ramoabi sustained third degree burns on Saturday night after an unnamed woman doused his bakkie with petrol and lit it during an argument. Bushveld police spokesman Captain Blackie Swart said on Tuesday that Ramoabi appeared to have been visiting the woman at her home in a new RDP settlement 1km outside Northam. “The couple got into some kind of argument. The woman allegedly got a drum of petrol when Ramoabi tried to leave and poured it over his vehicle,” said Swart. “She lit the vehicle when the argument continued, trapping Ramoabi inside.” He already had third degree burns by the time neighbours managed to put the blaze out. He died of his injuries on Monday afternoon. The woman fled the scene before police arrived and is still at large.