About Us	Search	Advertising

	Brought to you by:

EIGHT HUNDRED people are left homeless and 200 shacks were destroyed in a fire that occurred in the Wetlands in Masiphumelele on Friday afternoon.

Most of the displaced residents are temporarily being housed in the community hall in Masiphumelele until their new shacks are built.

"They have been provided with housing kits to build new shacks and various NGOs have been providing food and blankets," says Greg Pillay, head of the Disaster Risk Management Centre for the City of Cape Town. The cause of the fire is unconfirmed although it is suspected that a stove was left unattended. No-one was reported injured as a result of the fire.

Albert Solomon, who works for the Amakhaya Ngoku housing project in Masiphumelele, was one of those who lost their homes. "I was working at the Amakhaya office, which is by the School Site. I saw a cloud of smoke and didn't know what was happening. I ran to the Wetlands, which is about five minutes away, and by the time I arrived, 50 houses were already in ashes," he said.

Solomon said the layout of the Wetlands settlement made it difficult for the emergency services to combat the fire. He said the only thing he was able to salvage was a DVD player. "I was not able get anything else ? no food, no clothes. The only clothes I have left are the ones I was wearing on the day," he said.

Solomon says his wife and three children are currently staying at a friend's home, until he has finished building their new house.

He added that some of the new shacks are already up. Wayne Okkers, divisional commander of the City of Cape Town's Fire and Rescue Services, said they were notified of the fire at 11:42 on Friday and their first vehicle arrived on site by 11:56.

"We were able to get the fire under control in about an hour. It then took quite a long time to fully extinguish it," says Okkers.

Okkers said that the last of their vehicles, which included five fire engines, three water tenders carrying 5 000 litres of water each and one emergency vehicle, left the site at 16:42.

Bulelwa Jafta, secretary of the Amakhaya Ngoku housing project, said the community has been wor?king together to assist those affected. "We have been helping the people. Some have lost everything," she said.

Ward councillor Felicity Purchase praised the community's response to the crisis. "Any fire is tragic. It was heartening to see on Saturday the community working together to erect the shacks," she said.

	Back to top
©