'I only have the clothes on my back'

Seven shacks were burnt to the ground, leaving 16 people homeless when a fire raged through the Thabo Mbeki informal settlement on the corner of Lansdowne Road and Symphony Way in Philippi.

Fire and Rescue officials battled for more than an hour on Monday afternoon to extinguish the fire, which community members believed started inside one of the wood and iron structures.

"Everything was burning. We immediately ran out two lines (hoses)," said Reginald Smidt, a Fire and Rescue official on the scene.

"We knew we had to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading."

Smidt said the cause of the fire was unknown.

"We really don't know what happened. When we got here the fire was very intense - it was quite hectic," he said.

One of the 16 residents left homeless, Sally Nyabaza, 43, shared her home with her father and three children.

Teary-eyed, she stood staring at all that was left of their lives.

"The fire came out of one house and burned the others down. All my groceries, the fridge, television, all my belongings, everything burned," said Nyabaza.

"I only have the clothes on my back," the distraught woman said.

Rita Dyushu, 45, another resident, said she was lucky that the fire, which had ravaged her neighbour's homes and destroyed their belongings, had been extinguished before it reached hers.

The owners of most of the affected shacks were at work when the fire broke out.

Dyushu said the community had tried its best to douse the flames with water and sand.

"We were crying. We called to them (the men) - fire, fire.

"They took sand and water and threw it on the fire," she said.

Metro officials barricaded Symphony Way after the fire broke out after 3pm.

Traffic down Lansdowne Road came to a complete halt as fire engines struggled to move through the congested strip to reach the fire.

Smidt had said two "elderly females" were transported to the Delft Day Hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation.

There were no other injuries.

- Cape Argus