A spate of fires in informal settlements in Cape Town this weekend has left two people dead and more than 800 homeless.
It is not yet clear what caused the spate of blazes, but Greg Pillay, head of the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre, said residents using open flames or stoves to keep warm may have been the cause.
Early on Sunday, a woman burned to death in Zone Six, Langa, when her shack was gutted.
Four hours later, a 29-year-old man was killed when his shack and four others were razed in the Lusaka informal settlement in Philippi.
Police had opened inquests into the incidents and the names of the two residents will only be released once their relatives have been contacted.
Pillay said in a separate fire, 20 Heinz Park residents were left without shelter when five shacks were gutted.
He said another shack in Philippi had also been razed, leaving four residents homeless.
Shacks were also razed in Nyanga.
And in the Masiphumelele informal settlement where the biggest fire occurred on Friday, another 800 residents were left homeless.
On Sunday, scores of residents were busy rebuilding their shacks and sifting through piles of blackened corrugated iron and pieces of wood.
Crying children could be heard between continuous hammering.
Resident Nofirst Nzamela watched as her 12-year-old son, Asafika, curled up to rest in an old suitcase, one of her few remaining possessions.
She shook her head as she said she felt hopeless about the future of her four children.
"They are in school. But where will they stay now?
"I don't know what we'll do," she said.
Nzamela pointed to a sodden pile of burnt clothes which she had tried to salvage and said her sons did not have any school clothes, except for what they had been wearing on Friday.
She said she was thankful their school books had been with them when the fire had gutted their shack.
Nearby, Andrew Sigauke hammered pieces of wood together as he recalled the shock of arriving home on Friday to find his shack gutted.
Everything I had, everything, is gone, he said.
Just a few weeks ago when it was raining so much my house was flooded and the water came in.
Now I don't even have a house. I have nothing.
Sigauke said none of the residents seemed to know how the fire had begun.
Pillay said the fire might have been linked to people trying to keep warm.
It's quite strange because it's been cold, but not really that cold this weekend, he said.
He said fires that broke out in summer caused more damage because flames were fanned by strong winds and spread easily.
- Cape Times
It is not yet clear what caused the spate of blazes, but Greg Pillay, head of the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre, said residents using open flames or stoves to keep warm may have been the cause.
Early on Sunday, a woman burned to death in Zone Six, Langa, when her shack was gutted.
Four hours later, a 29-year-old man was killed when his shack and four others were razed in the Lusaka informal settlement in Philippi.
Police had opened inquests into the incidents and the names of the two residents will only be released once their relatives have been contacted.
Pillay said in a separate fire, 20 Heinz Park residents were left without shelter when five shacks were gutted.
He said another shack in Philippi had also been razed, leaving four residents homeless.
Shacks were also razed in Nyanga.
And in the Masiphumelele informal settlement where the biggest fire occurred on Friday, another 800 residents were left homeless.
On Sunday, scores of residents were busy rebuilding their shacks and sifting through piles of blackened corrugated iron and pieces of wood.
Crying children could be heard between continuous hammering.
Resident Nofirst Nzamela watched as her 12-year-old son, Asafika, curled up to rest in an old suitcase, one of her few remaining possessions.
She shook her head as she said she felt hopeless about the future of her four children.
"They are in school. But where will they stay now?
"I don't know what we'll do," she said.
Nzamela pointed to a sodden pile of burnt clothes which she had tried to salvage and said her sons did not have any school clothes, except for what they had been wearing on Friday.
She said she was thankful their school books had been with them when the fire had gutted their shack.
Nearby, Andrew Sigauke hammered pieces of wood together as he recalled the shock of arriving home on Friday to find his shack gutted.
Everything I had, everything, is gone, he said.
Just a few weeks ago when it was raining so much my house was flooded and the water came in.
Now I don't even have a house. I have nothing.
Sigauke said none of the residents seemed to know how the fire had begun.
Pillay said the fire might have been linked to people trying to keep warm.
It's quite strange because it's been cold, but not really that cold this weekend, he said.
He said fires that broke out in summer caused more damage because flames were fanned by strong winds and spread easily.
- Cape Times
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