As a fire ravaged the Mandela Park informal settlement in Hout Bay on Friday, destroying 50 shacks and displacing about 200 people, young men helped themselves to copper cable stripped by the flames.Men were spotted with pliers and garden clippers cutting through thick cable which supplied power to nearby houses, while fire fighters struggled to get the blaze under control.
Residents said the power had been out since Thursday morning, and said Eskom was responsible for the fire as it failed to send out people to repair the cables.
"Cable theft is rife here," said resident Lubeko Ndude. "If they had repaired the cables yesterday (Thursday) there wouldn't have been a fire." The fire is believed to have been caused by a burning candle.
Ndude said the area was in complete darkness on Thursday night and most families opted for candles. "These people were forced to use candles because the power was down," he said.
One of the young men, running down a side road with cables in his hand, said he would get between R30 and R40 for a kilogram of copper.
Witness Bakubaku, who lost all his possessions, saved his son as the flames engulfed his shack. "I wasn't at my shack and when I saw the fire I immediately ran to get my 17-month-old son," said Bakubaku. "He was sleeping and the fire was on the other side of my house. If I had arrived a few minutes later he would have been dead."
Mandela Park pastor Ncedo Ndongeni said fires occurred "every six months" but nothing was done to assist the people. "These people need proper housing," said Ndongeni. "Politicians are only seen at election time; they are nowhere to be found now. I'm sure next year people are going to carefully consider who they vote for."
- Cape Argus
No comments:
Post a Comment