Siyahlala shack dwellers in Browns Farm are calling for the City of Cape Town to provide them with houses following devastating fire that destroyed their homes on Saturday 2 April.
At least two people died in the blaze that destroyed five shacks and left more than 15 people homeless. The cause of the fire remains a mystery.
Now residents are demanding proper houses.
They are saying they have been waiting for the houses for too long and the two lives as well as their belongings could have been saved if they had proper houses.
Nosimphiwe Xungu, a neighbour to one of the deceased, said the fire started at 01:00 on Saturday 2 April.
“I was fast asleep when I heard the deceased banging against his shack screaming for help. Initially, I thought it was amaphara trying to break into my shack. The deceased’s shack and mine were so close. While he banged his shack, mine was also shaking,” said Xungu, adding that she eventually went with her boyfriend to investigate.
She said they managed to open the front door and kicked open the door into the bedroom in an attempt to rescue the deceased.
“When we were trying to open the bedroom door he was quiet. Immediately as we kicked the door for the bedroom the flames came to us and we ran away. The flames were moving so fast and spread to other shacks. I lost everything in the fire. I was unable to save our belongings including my identity document,” she explained.
Community leader Bonile Nompozolo said the area is prone to shack fires. “We have been here for 24 years. The councillors come and go and leave us here. There’s little development that is happening in this area. All we need are houses to stay with our families,” he said.
Nompozolo stated that the identity of the second victim is unknown. “The second person died in a mysterious way. We are not sure who he is. There was a woman who came here asking the whereabouts of her boyfriend saying that he went out as if he was going to assist in extinguishing the shack fire and he never came back,” said Nompozolo, adding that the community believes the second body is that of a missing man.
“We first saw the body of the unknown man and we thought it was our neighbour’s body, but we were all surprised as to why his body was at another plot,” he said.
However, the neighbour’s charred body was discovered as residents removed the rubble.
“Both bodies were difficult to differentiate as they were burned beyond recognition. The deceased families need to conduct DNA tests in order to identify them,” he said.
Ward 80 councillor Bennett Payiya said the building of houses in the area is an issue.
“It is unclear when will the houses be built. But it’s something that I’m going to follow and ask the relevant officials. But for now there is nothing,” said Payiya.