Hundreds displaced following CT fires

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Nearly 800 people have been left homeless after four separate shack fires ripped through hundreds of informal structures in various areas of Cape Town this weekend.

Two of the fires occurred at the Joe Slovo informal settlement, in Langa while another fire occurred in Mfuleni and the fourth fire was reported in Du Noon.

Four separate fires destroyed more than 300 structures in total.

The residents of Joe Slovo, in Langa, are picking up the pieces and working hard to rebuild their homes. They were among the affected residents when one of the shack fires in Langa, ripped through the area and destroyed dozens of informal structures. Many of them have lost all of their belongings and have nowhere to go.

An affected resident, Masande Benya says, “What is happening here is not alright, but what we ask from the government is to help us with material, because we have to vote but we lost everything as you see I am busy now, but we don’t have anything.”

Another resident, Phindiwe Siduna, says, “I stay here in Joe Slovo. I’m one of the victims. The fire started around. I just received a call, someone said that the house is burning and then I ran because I’m one of the people who are staying here. We are not feeling okay, because we don’t know the reason of the fire. We lost a lot of things, clothes some people managed to take some things out but some of the people they come and steal from us. You take out the things and some of the people they as if they came to help us, but they steal everything.”

Humanitarian aid organisation, Gift of the Givers, is providing disaster relief, to residents who were affected by the various fires.

The City of Cape Town says its Informal Settlements Management Department and the National Human Settlements Department are actively engaging with the affected communities, to discuss plans for rebuilding.