Xolelwa Stofile was so excited when her boyfriend gave her a DVD player and DVDs for Christmas that she immediately set up the equipment and kept peeking at it during a family lunch.
She had planned to watch her favourite movie, Dirty Dancing, on Boxing Day, but hours before she had the chance, a fire destroyed everything she owned.
Stofile, 22, is one of about 700 Masiphumelele residents left destitute after a fire razed about 150 shacks at the weekend.
“I was sleeping when suddenly I heard people scream: ‘It’s burning. It’s burning.’ I grabbed my daughter and ran outside.
“I wanted to go back in my house and grab things, but the flames came too quickly. I got my first ever DVD player and DVDs for Christmas and that’s all gone.
“I know it means nothing. I’m more worried about my daughter and her burnt clothes. But, you know, I was just so excited. It was like magic when I saw that DVD machine.
Residents of Masiphumelele salvage what they can in order to rebuild their homes after a fire gutted a large portion of the settlement on Boxing Day. Photo: Matthew Jordaan
CAPE TIMES
“But now everything is gone,” she said, standing in front of a heap of charred mattress springs and clutching her seven-month-old daughter, Abigail.
The little girl’s white jersey and pants were smeared with soot.
Stofile said it was the only clothing she had for her.
Yesterdayscores of residents, their eyes red as grit and ash blew about in gusting winds, carried long pieces of wood on their heads and walked to the burnt area.
Others pushed trolleys filled with curled, blackened pieces of corrugated iron they planned to use in rebuilding their shacks.
Children walked between charred debris and collected cups and plates which could be salvaged.
Amanda Maibe walked slowly through the debris pulling a black bag behind her.
“This is what’s left of my life. I have a four-year-old son and he’s going to suffer. He has no clothes left. No toys. No food. It’s a bad day,” she said.
Clutching a blackened hammer and leaning on a door frame he had just erected, Siyathemba Mange, 27, frowned as he said he would work non-stop until he had finished rebuilding his shack.
“Sheesh, I’m exhausted. But if I don’t do this I have no place to stay. All my clothes and food is gone. I have to start from scratch.
“This is no way to start a new year. It makes me scared,” he said.
A neighbour came and gave Mange a handful of shiny new screws she did not need.
“What a gift,” a smiling Mange said as he compared the new screws to gnarled rusty ones he had been using.
Mange and other residents believed a man who was drunk and tried to cook had caused the blaze after he had left his oven on by mistake.
They said the man had not been seen since.
The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre was assisting the residents and a community hall had been opened as temporary accommodation.
Hours after the Masiphumelele incident, firefighters battled a blaze on the lower slopes of Chapman’s Peak.
The route had to be closed off because of smoke.
Firefighters, engines, and three helicopters were deployed in an effort to extinguish the fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment