Shack fire leaves hundreds homeless in Khayelitsha

A raging fire broke out and destroyed about 150 shacks and displaced about 500 shack dwellers in Taiwan informal settlement, in Khayelitsha on Wednesday. The City of Cape Town deployed 40 fire fighters and 10 frontline “fire resources” to contain the blaze.

Residents suspect the cause of the fire to have been a pot of food left cooking unattended on an electric stove. Community leader, Zoleka Siwisa said she and other community leaders asked a local spaza shop owner to rush them to the nearby Site C Fire Station to collect fire fighters while only one shack was still burning. “When we arrived at the fire station, an official told us that fire vehicles were not available. Our fire station is as good as non-existent. It’s useless,” she said angrily. Siwisa said two vehicles arrived later, but one of them was empty. ”The one vehicle that contained water ran out of it. The shacks burnt while the fire fighters were here,” she complained.

Nomangesi Mthandama said she saw smoke rise out of the burning shack and shouted to other shack dwellers to come help extinguish the fire. “We pulled out our belongings and stored them in one shack, which was far from the burning one. The fire reached the shack and burned all our belongings and furniture. We thought that the fire wouldn’t reach it,” she said. It’s the third time in two years that she has lost her belongings in a fire, she said.

It is also the third time for Babalwa Kambile, who stays in Taiwan with her three kids, to lose all her belongings to a fire. “When the previous fires burned all my belongings, I was able to raise money to rebuild my shack as I was still working as a cleaner. I don’t know what I will do now because I no longer work,” Kambile said.

The shack dwellers battled to douse the blaze because they couldn’t get water. Kambile said the water pressure in the settlement’s taps was too low to fight the flames that were being fanned by strong winds, so they gave up trying to put out the fire. She lost a DVD player, TV, cupboard, bed and clothes. Her grandchild burst into tears when he returned from school and saw the burnt shacks.

Ward councillor Aya Kama said he has asked community leaders to look for empty houses, crèches and churches to accommodate the fire victims. “I have sent requests for donations to various organisations. Local business owners must also play their part and help,” he said.

Gift of the Givers did respond: “Our teams were busy assisting fire victims … when a local councillor and residents flooded them with frantic calls for assistance. Our teams are on-site and have set up a base to assist the fire victims with immediate humanitarian needs,” Ali Sablay, spokesperson for the organisation said.