At least four shack-fire incidents occurred in different parts of the City this past weekend, in which 448 people were homeless and 233 shacks burnt down. No injuries were reported in any of these incidents.
The City’s Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Centre spokesperson Sonica Lategan said in the Vukuzenzele Informal Settlement in Nyanga 47 people were affected and 22 structures destroyed in a fire that broke out on the evening of Saturday 29 November. She said no damage to municipal infrastructure (water, electricity) was recorded during the assessment afterwards. In Zwe-Zwe Storage Site in Dunoon 28 people were affected and 11 structures destroyed, and in Fisantekraal 37 people were affected and 15 structures were destroyed.
“DRM notified relevant departments including [social-grant agency] Sassa and The City’s Department of Social Development to provide humanitarian assistance in the form of food, clothing, blankets and mattresses,” Lategan said. The City’s Informal Settlements Management Branch was activated as well as the Solid Waste Department to remove fire debris from the affected areas.
She said the biggest shack fire occurred in the Thembeni informal settlement in Nomzamo, Lwandle and a Joint Operations Centre has been established in the area, where 185 structures were destroyed by fire at about 23:00 on Saturday 29 November.
“Eskom was called in due to live wires hampering disaster-recovery efforts,” said Lategan. “It has since disconnected the electricity supply to make the area safe. Our Solid Waste Department cleared the fire debris on Sunday 30 November, and at least 336 people had been affected.”
One shack-fire victim Ncediwe Dodo said she had lost everything in the shack fire, which began when she was sleeping.
“I heard people people outside shouting ‘Fire! Fire!’ I went out to see for myself. The flames were so close I didn’t take a single bag. Instead, I grabbed my 13-year-old and ran out. All his Christmas clothes were left behind.” She said it was highly unlikely she would be able to go to the Eastern Cape for the coming holidays as planned.
Community leader Simthembile Mfecane described the conditions at Thembeni as bad.
He urged the community or organisations to contribute whatever they had. “It is bad. The shack-fire victims are devastated. Most of them are unemployed and can’t afford to buy building material.”
