Victims of a fire that swept through the KTC shanty town last Friday have appealed to the authorities for urgent aid and proper housing.
The fire destroyed more than 50 shacks that were home to about 130 people, and a man was hospitalised with a leg injury, according to the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre.
Fire victims who spoke to Vukani on Sunday said many of them were unemployed and now sheltered with relatives as they could not afford to rebuild their homes.
“All I want is a proper house here or elsewhere. It has never been nice to live in an informal settlement. If it is not fire, it is floods. I lost everything. I am left with what I am wearing. The government needs to do something. Give us houses,” said Phathiswa Gladile, who lives in the area with her husband and 21-year-old son.
“We are three and all of us are not working,” said Ms Gladile.
She was washing herself when the fire broke out and spread quickly, fanned by strong winds.
“I heard people calling ‘fire’. I managed to take a few belongings and put them in the neighbour’s shack. Little did I know that it was going to burn down too.”
Another fire victim, Zonisile Tsholise, appealed to the City to provide emergency housing kits, as it once did, to help victims rebuild.
“People lost everything and anything. It is time to go back to what they used to do, assist with fire kits,” he said.
In recent years, the City has declined to provide the kits to fire and flood victims outside of declared disaster areas, citing the impact of national government budget cuts.
City Disaster Risk Management Centre staff were at the scene of the fire when Vukani visited the area on Sunday helping to clear debris, and Gift of the Givers Western Cape coordinator Ali Sablay was also there, providing food and blankets to the victims.
City Disaster Risk Management Centre spokesperson Sonica Lategan said they were coordinating humanitarian relief efforts for the fire victims, and Eskom and the City’s water and sanitation department had been alerted so they could repair overhead electrical wires, water taps and other utilities.
