Residents say an unattended candle left in a shack had started the fire, which destroyed 60 homes in Dunoon, Cape Town.
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“Thanks to yet another shack blaze, I have to ask for a loan from my bosses to try to fix my family’s lives. I have to start my life all over again.”
That was all Nokubonga Tomose could say after a fire in Ekuphumleni, Dunoon, early on Saturday morning.
Residents said an unattended candle left in a shack had started the fire, which destroyed 60 homes in the informal settlement, leaving about 100 people homeless.
The city’s fire and rescue services said in a statement that the blaze was reported at 12.23am yesterday.
There were no deaths and no one was injured, but scores of residents lost everything they owned.
A fire in Khayelitsha on New Year’s Day left more than 1 000 people homeless, many of whom have still not been permanently rehoused.
Disaster Risk Management Centre spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the blaze was extinguished at about 3.20am yesterday, after fire engines had been sent from Milnerton, Melkbosstrand, Epping, Goodwood and Brooklyn.
Residents at the scene yesterday, struggling to begin rebuilding, said the alleged perpetrator fled immediately when he returned to his shack to find it burning.
A devastated Tomose, who has two daughters, aged nine and one, said the fire destroyed her baby’s food and clothing.
“She’s only feeding from rooibos tea because I don’t have money to buy her more baby food,” she said.
Her elder daughter’s school uniform, stationery and books were also destroyed.
Tomose settled in Ekuphumleni after moving from Ethembeni, also in Dunoon, after a fire razed her home there.
“On Monday I’ll talk to my bosses and see if they can help,” she said.
A local NGO was already on the scene yesterday handing out food parcels and blankets to those who lost homes. - Sunday Argus