Scores left homeless by two fires

While scores of Philippi residents braved the rain on Tuesday and rebuilt their shelters destroyed by a fire the day before, 40 more residents in the Masiphumelele informal settlement near Noordhoek were left homeless by another blaze.

No one was injured in either of the fires and the causes were being investigated.

Yesterday, Charlotte Powell, the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre's spokesperson, said an NGO had provided hot meals and blankets to the approximately 40 homeless Masiphumelele residents.

The city's housing department would supply them with starter kits to rebuild their homes.

Monica Pypers, a spokesperson at the Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre, said the fire started about 10am and destroyed five shacks.

Meanwhile, scores of residents in Kosovo, Philippi, worked in the rain on Tuesday rebuilding their homes which were razed the day before, leaving about 60 of them homeless.

Parents and children walked through mud and charred, sodden debris carrying planks of wood and dripping packets of salvaged nails.

"I was at work when this happened. I came home to find I had nothing. I only have the clothes I'm wearing. I hope my friends will let me wear their clothes," Andile Zola, a resident, said as he brushed raindrops from his face.

Lifting a corrugated iron sheet on to planks in order to form a roof, Solomzi Qaloti said they were forced to work in the downpour.

"We need a place to stay. If we don't build then we don't have a house. We need to carry on with our lives," he said.

As the rain fell harder, some of the residents ran to the partially-built homes which provided the most shelter.

Ernest Pokolo, another resident, said he believed a neighbour had gone to work early on Monday but had left their electric stove on and this had caused the blaze.

A number of other residents said they also believed a neglected stove caused the fire and denied a tabloid report that it had been started by someone who wanted to harm political rivals as both DA and ANC members wanted to take control of Kosovo.

Nyanga police station spokesperson Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said officers were investigating the blaze and believed it was accident.

"They suspect it might have been started by a stove." - Cape Times