Shack fire victims in Langa and Mfuleni are hard at work trying to rebuild their shacks after they were destroyed by the shack fires during the Easter Weekend.
More than 200 shacks were ravaged by the flames and left more than 600 people homeless. The shack fire incidents occurred between Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 March.
The City’s Disaster Risk Management (DRM) spokesperson Charlotte Powell said the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre has completed assessments of all four sites where fires occurred overnight.
She said an overall 339 structures were destroyed and 759 persons affected.
She said in Mfuleni where 200 structures were destroyed and 410 persons were affected the councillor and a representative of the Western Cape Education Department are currently looking for halls to accommodate those affected.
“At the rest of the sites affected persons have taken up shelter with family and friends in the areas. The fire in Doornbach (ZweZwe) in Dunoon destroyed 71 structures, affecting 158 persons. The first fire in Langa,reported just before 19:30 last night, destroyed 36 structures, leaving 123 people affected. The second incident, in the same vicinity, destroyed 32structures, with 68 people affected,” she said.
Powell said the DRM has activated Gift of the Givers and Islamic Relief to provide humanitarian assistance at the various sites for the next five days which includes hot meals, food parcels, mattresses, clothing, and hygiene packs to those affected.
She said various City departments including Electricity, Solid Waste and Water & Sanitation are assisting with clearing fire debris and attending to damaged or compromised infrastructure.
“The City’s Informal Settlements Management Department and the National Human Settlements Department are actively engaging the affected communities to discuss plans for rebuilding,” she explained.
Ward 52 councillor Thembelani Nyamakazi from Langa described these incidents as unfortunate.
He said there were three separate incidents of shack fire that occurred in his ward during the weekend.
“We had three separate shack fire incidents that occurred in this ward. The first incident occurred at Kosovo informal settlement at about 16:00,at least five shacks burned down and left eight people homeless. The second incident occurred in Joe Slovo informal settlement at about 19:00 where more than 36 shacks were destroyed by fire and left 123 people including children homeless. The third incident occurred in Joe Slovo at 02:00 on Sunday at least 32 shacks destroyed by fire and more than 68 people homeless,” he explained, adding that only one person was injured during the third shack fire incident and he was rushed to the hospital.
He urged the local organisation and business people to assist where they can.
“Some shack fire victims are on Easter Weekend holidays in Eastern Cape and they left their shacks under the supervision of their neighbours. Now they will come back with nothing. It is really sad,” he explained.
Covid informal settlement community leader Mfundo Ganeko in Mfuleni said ever since the incident occurred their lives were never the same. He said the majority of people left with nothing.
“There were some organisations that arrived here and gave us food, water, toiletries, mattresses, clothes etc. Some of those organisations were Gift of the Givers, Islamic Relief and Shoprite. But it’s not enough. The majority of us have no building material to rebuild our shacks. Some of us are sleeping with our friends and relatives,” said Ganeko, adding that there are people who are sleeping in the community hall. He said all they need is building material.