Lotus Park dwellers in Gugulethu are urging the City of Cape Town to provide them with decent houses after a couple died in a shack fire.
They are now worried about their safety.
According to reports, a fire broke out in the area on Saturday 8 April. The cause is still unknown.
At least three shacks were affected.
Community leader Zoleka Dudumisa said most people were horrified by the incident, although it was not the first such incident in the community.
“It’s shocking. The couple, who left a girl aged 16 and a boy of 18 behind, was found dead in the debris. They (the children) were in Samora Machel for a weekend holiday when the fire occurred.
Dudumisa said, in December last year, another shack destroyed at least three shacks in the K section, but no one died.
Dudumisa claimed the community had been seeking assistance from the local councillor Lindile Sonyoka, all in vain.
“I don’t know when last we had a community meeting with the councillor,” Dudumisa said. “We sent him emails and WhatsApp messages requesting a meeting, but he never came. We feel neglected in this area. We are on our own.”
Dudumisa said the community was moved away from a nearby lake closer to the railway station in 2004.
While this was a temporary arrangement, residents have now been in the area for nearly 20 years.
Dudumisa said they are willing to go anywhere as long as they got proper houses. “The government cannot build houses where we are because we are on private land. The land we are on belongs to Prasa. And it’s been almost two decades since we have been staying here and there’s no direction.”
City Vision phoned Sonyoka numerous times on Tuesday 11 April, but his phone automatically went to voicemail. He also did not respond to a WhatsApp message.
The City’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said the service received the call at 03:00 of informal structures burning at Lotus Park informal settlement in Gugulethu on Saturday 8 April.
He said fire crews from Gugulethu, Ottery and Mitchell’s Plain attended to the scene with three fire engines and two water tankers.
“Just before 04:00, firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze, which destroyed seven structures and left 27 people displaced. The bodies of a man and woman were found among the debris.”