Family mourns 4 killed in blaze
SHE lost her son, mother, grandmother and cousin when a blaze raged through the Taiwan informal settlement in Khayelitsha. In total eight people died.
Now Yonela Bangani, 24, has to rebuild her entire life because she also lost all her worldly possessions.
“While sleeping I smelled something was not right and when I turned my head I saw the fire,” Bangani said.
She said her family was trapped in their home she and her cousin managed to escape the shack before it was gutted: “It’s all my family, I also lost all my belongings, I have no clothes nothing.”
Her mother, Nonkululeko was the only breadwinner. “I don’t feel nice, I am not okay,” Bangani said.
The Khayelitsha Development Forum said the fire highlights the deplorable conditions people live in in the Taiwan informal settlement.
“A fire is bound to affect them,” chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said.
The Taiwan informal settlement was also badly affected by a massive storm in June last year.
Tyhido said that over the years Taiwan’s living conditions have become worse and there is no indication from the City or councillors whether they will be improved.
“We are calling on the City to act and to fix the living conditions of the people of Taiwan,” Tyhido said.
The South African Civic Organisation (Sanco) has lambasted the City of Cape Town for failing to provide adequate housing to residents.
“The frightful deaths and material losses that the poorest of the poor, who were driven beyond desperation (suffer) should weigh heavily on the conscience of those who have it in their power to act but procrastinate because in their view, those affected are inconsequential ‘refugees’ who should not in the first place be in the Western Cape,” Sanco national spokesperson, Jabu Mahlangu, said.
The ANC in the Western Cape also criticised the City of Cape Town over the Taiwan residents’ living conditions.
“As is evident in the Taiwan fire, the biggest challenge of informal settlements and cause of shack fires is lack of electricity. As the ANC, we know there is a direct link between the fires and failure of most municipalities to electrify settlements,” provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said.
The Western Cape Department of Social Development said it will be assisting the family. “Social workers were dispatched and have made contact. Trauma counselling was offered and our teams have compiled information to assist the family with accessing Social Relief of Distress grants and burial assistance,” said Minister of Social Development Albert Fritz.