South African striker Rodney Ramagalela’s Eight bedroom house and all his belongings have been burnt to ashes.
Ramagalela’s eight-room house with a double garage burned down around 04:30 SA Time(5:30AM EAT) in Mamvuka, Limpopo.
The 32-year-old joined Chippa United at the beginning of the season from Black Leopards but suffered an injury setback which has seen him not feature for the Eastern Cape club.
Rodney Ramagalela said he was “seriously hurt” by the news that his family home in Mamvuka, Limpopo had burnt down. The Chippa United striker’s house was fortunately empty when it caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The damage to the eight-bedroom property is reportedly said to be severe.
He said: “Obviously I am very hurt by this because if you come to think of it, it takes time to build a house. With a career like ours, to start again it’s a mission on its own. I am seriously hurt. I won't lie. But the most important thing is that no one lost their lives."
“For now, there is nothing to suspect because I was not there. I will leave it to the law enforcement to do their investigations then we will get an answer on what happened. Apparently it took only 10 minutes for the fire to be dispatched all over the house because my neighbours are telling me that there was no fire at 04:20 but at 04:40 the fire was all over the place.”
Ramagalela, now 32-year-old, moved to the Chilli Boys in August following his exit from last season’s DStv Premiership relegated side, Black Leopards. Ramagalela, who skippered Lidoda Duvha in the 2020/21 season, was, despite a dismal campaign for the Thohoyandou-based side, one of their stand-out players with 25 appearances in all competitions.
However, he was among those deemed surplus to requirements postseason and was put up for sale as the team looks to rebuild following their relegation to the GladAfrica Championship.
Ramagalela shared the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot award for top goal-scorer in the 2017/18 season with then Mamelodi Sundowns’ Percy Tau with just 11 goals that campaign.