Last night, 11 February, a fire engulfed the old creamery buildings next to the Provincial Traffic Department in Komani.
This is the fifth devastating fire in the town in recent months.
Last month (29 January) the Komani town hall burned to the ground, despite massive community efforts to save the building.
The cause of that fire is still unknown.
According to Jane Cowley, MPL and Enoch Mgijima Constituency Leader, the Fire Department remains incapable of rendering a fire-fighting service “as they have no functional vehicles and no equipment”.
“Once again it was the residents themselves that rallied and transported water to the scene to try to douse the flames, at considerable risk to themselves.
“Sadly the buildings and all their contents were destroyed,” Cowley said.
In a Facebook post by Sean Russell, the community was thanked for assisting in fighting the fire.
“A huge thanks to the Queenstown Community who rallied around to assist in fighting this fire alone this morning. Our Fire Chief lost his cell phone and in any case has no resources to help,” Russell wrote.
ICYMI | No clues yet on fire that gutted Komani Town Hall
He added that the Chris Hani Fire Services arrived with a veld fire fighting bakkie after 07:00 this morning, 12 February, but with only a driver and no other staff.
“Again, a huge thanks to the big group of businesses people who arrived to help and stop the fire from destroying the entire complex.”
In the meantime Cowley said she will be writing to the Eastern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Xolile Nqatha, “to urgently request that the administrator of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, Monwabisi Somana, be tasked with allocating sufficient funding to upgrade and restore the fire-fighting unit”.
“They must once again resume their duties with functional vehicles and working equipment.
“The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the Hawks investigation into the last fire which, two weeks ago, destroyed most of the town hall, including the archives which contained sensitive documentation and evidence of malfeasance and corrupt municipal dealings. We sincerely hope that the perpetrators of the alleged arson are found and brought to book,” Cowley concluded.
