No fatalities as more than 100 homes razed in Nkanini but man dies when his shack catches fire in Siyahlala
A week after a blaze destroyed 106 shacks in Dunoon’s Nkanini informal settlement, leaving 233 people homeless on New Year’s Eve, another blaze in Siyahlala informal settlement Section B resulted in the death of a man on Saturday 7 January.
Although hundreds of people were left destitute by the fire in Nkanini which started just before midnight on Friday 30 December, no-one was killed.
But the single shack in Siyahlala informal settlement which caught fire on 7 January, resulted in the death of the occupant. Neigbouring shacks were unscathed.
Neighbours who spoke on condition they not be named, said the deceased had just returned from holidays in the Eastern Cape, and was burnt to death on his first night back.
The neighbours said they heard him screaming for help as his shack burnt, but people were unable to break through the wire security fence he had erected around the front of his shack.
They said people were using whatever they could to break down the security barrier, including a shovel, but then the screaming stopped, and their efforts were in vain.
City Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Jermaine Carelse confirmed the incident in Siyahlala and said a single structure was destroyed.
Carelse said an emergency call was received at approximately 04:13 on the morning of 7 January and crews from Milnerton Fire Station managed to extinguish the blaze just after 5am.
Regarding the shack fire in Nkanini informal settlement, City Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powell said 106 homes were destroyed, leaving 223 people homeless.
Powell said Gift of the Givers and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) were providing humanitarian assistance and the provincial Department of Social Development had been activated to provide psychosocial support services.
Human Settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, accompanied by Cape Town Mayco member for human settlements, Malusi Booi, visited Nkanini informal settlement on Monday 9 January.