Residents of Masiphumelele in Cape Town lost their belongings in a shack fire on Monday. Photos by Misheck Makora
RESIDENTS of Masiphumelele in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, are facing a bleak Christmas.
This after a devastating shack fire destroyed more than 100 homes in the area on Monday, 23 December.
The fire began on Sunday night, 22 December and continued to wreak havoc throughout the area.
Resident Phathiswa Majingolo (45) shared her distress after losing all her Christmas clothes and food to the flames. She only managed to save her phone and ID, which were under her pillow.
“My ID was inside the pouch of my phone, at the back of my phone. The phone was under my pillow because I was using it just before I slept. That’s how these two items survived,” she said.
Residents of Masiphumelele in Cape Town lost their belongings in a shack fire on Monday. Photo by Misheck Makora
Residents of Masiphumelele in Cape Town lost their belongings in a shack fire on Monday. Photos by Misheck Makora
Phathiswa planned to send her kid’s Christmas clothes to the Eastern Cape but was left with nothing.
“I was supposed to send the parcel with a taxi today, but everything burnt inside my three-roomed shack. Besides Christmas clothes, I had received my stokvel groceries last week, which were for Christmas and January preparations. I’m devastated and don’t know what to do,” she said.
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Another resident, Malibongwe Dyasi (55), suspects the fire was caused by amaphara burning cables.
“The fire started at about 10pm on Sunday, but we managed to extinguish it. It started again after midnight, and it was too strong to stop. Firefighters struggled to deal with it due to the wind,” said Malibongwe.
Fire and Rescue spokesman Jermaine Carelse said they received a call about the fire at about 4.30am.
Residents of Masiphumelele in Cape Town lost their belongings in a shack fire on Monday. Photo by Misheck Makora
“We dispatched 70 firefighters and 14 firetrucks. Fortunately, there were no fatalities,” Carelse said.
The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Management spokeswoman, Sonica Lategan, assured that they are working with humanitarian partners to assist the victims.
“We are still assessing the situation to verify the number of affected persons. Humanitarian partners, Living Hope, and Gift of the Givers are on-site to aid the residents,” said Lategan.
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