A spaza shop owner in Du Noon lost stock worth R6 000 and R800 in cash when the shack he used as his shop and home was burnt to the ground on Monday morning. Fortunately no one was killed or injured in the blaze.
Shop owner Peter Jauleni, 27, said he had only himself to blame for the fire.
He said he forgot to turn off his electric stove after preparing porridge for himself in the morning, and believes that’s what caused the blaze that started just after seven.
At that time, said Jauleni, he was in Table View looking for work as a bricklayer when he received a call from his half brother Petrus Jauleni who was looking after the shop.
He said resident’s frantically demolished his burning shack – which was constructed against the outside wall of an RDP house – in order to prevent the blaze from spreading. Fortunately, the RDP house was not badly damaged.
Jauleni said when he got back to his shack, the stock for his shop was burnt to ashes.
Seeing his small business in ruins was “like being hit in the stomach”, he said, as it had taking him for years to establish his spaza.
“I cried like a small child,” he said.
“Everything was burnt. I’m only left with the clothes on my body.”
His brother Petrus said he was awakened by neighbouring residents screaming that there was fire.
“I just heard the noise of people as if they were fighting and I jumped out of bed and saw the shop of my brother burning,” he said.
He said over 100 residents helped to extinguish the fire, many of them fetching water from their RDP houses.
He said when firefighters came at the scene the fire was already under control and did not pose any danger.
City of Cape Town fire chief Ian Schnetler confirmed the blaze and said no-one was injured or killed.
Schnetler said the firefighting crew arrived at the scene at 7.16am and left at 7.34am.
In a related development, Schnetler said a fire in the Doornbach informal settlement next to Du Noon destroyed 15 shacks on Friday night.
He said it was not clear how many people were left destitute by the Doornbach fire and that police were investigating the cause of both fires.
— West Cape News
Shop owner Peter Jauleni, 27, said he had only himself to blame for the fire.
He said he forgot to turn off his electric stove after preparing porridge for himself in the morning, and believes that’s what caused the blaze that started just after seven.
At that time, said Jauleni, he was in Table View looking for work as a bricklayer when he received a call from his half brother Petrus Jauleni who was looking after the shop.
He said resident’s frantically demolished his burning shack – which was constructed against the outside wall of an RDP house – in order to prevent the blaze from spreading. Fortunately, the RDP house was not badly damaged.
Jauleni said when he got back to his shack, the stock for his shop was burnt to ashes.
Seeing his small business in ruins was “like being hit in the stomach”, he said, as it had taking him for years to establish his spaza.
“I cried like a small child,” he said.
“Everything was burnt. I’m only left with the clothes on my body.”
His brother Petrus said he was awakened by neighbouring residents screaming that there was fire.
“I just heard the noise of people as if they were fighting and I jumped out of bed and saw the shop of my brother burning,” he said.
He said over 100 residents helped to extinguish the fire, many of them fetching water from their RDP houses.
He said when firefighters came at the scene the fire was already under control and did not pose any danger.
City of Cape Town fire chief Ian Schnetler confirmed the blaze and said no-one was injured or killed.
Schnetler said the firefighting crew arrived at the scene at 7.16am and left at 7.34am.
In a related development, Schnetler said a fire in the Doornbach informal settlement next to Du Noon destroyed 15 shacks on Friday night.
He said it was not clear how many people were left destitute by the Doornbach fire and that police were investigating the cause of both fires.
— West Cape News
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