Families’ homes gutted by inferno
Desperate residents start rebuilding their shacks with damaged materials
A devastating fire destroyed about 20 shacks in Nompumelelo on Tuesday, leaving many families homeless.
Ward councillor Makhaya Bopi said the fire raged through the area at 3.30pm yesterday in D section.
Bopi said that the cause of the fire was unknown.
He said a number of families were affected and appealed for donations of materials, groceries and clothes.
Lungile Booi, who lost his home in the blaze, said he was suffering and would now have to start life “from scratch”.
A distraught Booi said he also lost his beloved dog, which was trapped in his shack.
Many families who lost their homes did not have the means to secure new materials to build with, and so were reusing material damaged in the blaze, he said.
Booi said he was not aware of what had caused the fire, while some people had blamed it on a faulty electric appliance.
He said he did not think anyone was hurt in the fire, which he said lasted until about 5pm, when “water services” saved the residents.
When the Dispatch visited the scene, a piece of land about the size of a rugby field was charred.
Yet new foundations could be seen as residents were wasting no time in starting to rebuild their homes.
Last month 200 homes in Duncan Village were reduced to ashes by a fire that started when a paraffin stove exploded, leaving 1,000 residents homeless. BCM fire chief Thembile Thompson said he could not comment and referred the Dispatch to the city’s communications department, which did not respond to questions by the time of going to print.