Cape Town - A man lost his life and more than 100 people lost their homes in two separate fires over the weekend.
Cape Town Disaster Operations Centre head Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said
the shack fires occurred in Philippi East’s Marcus Garvey informal settlement on Saturday night and the Mandela Park informal settlement in Hout Bay on Sunday afternoon.
Solomons-Johannes said that 18 shacks were destroyed in Marcus Garvey, leaving 56 people displaced. In Mandela Park, 30 shacks were destroyed in the blaze and 60 people were left homeless.
Thandile Rhuxwana, 35, passed away in his one-roomed Philippi shack at about 9pm. His neighbour, Sisanda Bunzi, 29, whose shack also burnt to the ground, said they suspected the fire started in Rhuxwana’s shack. “I survived because I was watching TV and was able to get out immediately when I heard people screaming. If the fire had happened later I would have probably been asleep… and also would have died,” she said.
She said they tried to extinguish the fire with buckets of water but the narrow passages between shacks made it difficult for them to navigate back and forth. The Marcus Garvey residents share one tap along the main road.
When the Cape Argus visited Marcus Garvey on Sunday, the residents were sifting through the rubble, trying to find anything that could be saved.
Rhuxwana’s mother, Beauty Nzendo, said that her son was a “kind child who never made trouble with anyone” .
Another resident, Thulisile Mokoeqo, 22, said that they were alerted to the fire by a 12-year-old girl who lived next to Rhuxwana’s shack. “The children were screaming and running away from the flames while we were trying to shield them and also save some of our furniture… it’s a traumatic experience for everyone,” she said.
nontando.mposo@inl.co.za
- Cape Argus
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