While some residents have begun rebuilding, many, including families with children, remain homeless and are searching for materials to reconstruct their homes
Peter Luhanga
One person died in a fire that swept through Malema informal settlement in Joe Slovo Park, Milnerton, on Sunday 6 April.
The blaze destroyed 62 shacks, leaving 79 people, including mothers and children, displaced and homeless.
At the scene on Thursday 10 April, some residents were trying to rebuild their homes, while others, particularly the more vulnerable, remained displaced, searching through the rubble for building material to re-use.
Andiswa Ngcana, 37, a mother of two children aged three and 13, has lived in the Malema informal settlement for six years, sharing a three-room shack with her children.
Ngcana said she had been asleep when the fire broke out just after 3am on Sunday. Awakened by the panicked screams of neighbours, she roused her 13-year-old and grabbed her youngest child before fleeing to safety.
Ngcana later returned to salvage what she could. She says she managed to rescue two suitcases of clothes and a baby travel bag containing important documents, including birth certificates. Everything else, including the children’s clothing and household belongings, was reduced to ashes.
She works at a factory in Montague Gardens and says she will have to wait until the end of the month to buy zinc sheets and planks to begin rebuilding. In the meantime, she is taking refuge at her cousin’s shack elsewhere in the township.
“I’ve so much stress,” said Ngcana.
City of Cape Town fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse confirmed a man died in the blaze.
Carelse said the fire and rescues service received a call at 03:11am on Sunday 6 April, reporting shacks alight in Joe Slovo Park, Milnerton.
He said thirteen fire-fighting vehicles were sent to the scene and the fire was brought under control shortly after 8am.
Disaster Risk Management Centre spokesperson Charlotte Powell said the blaze destroyed 62 structures and 79 people were affected.
Milnerton SAPS spokesperson Captain Nopaya Madyibi said an inquest docket has been opened after an unidentified man died in the blaze.
“ The nationality and age of the deceased is still unknown. The cause of the shack fire is still under investigation,” said Madyibi.