Thanking ceremony but no braai

MOST firefighters will leave the Knysna area by Saturday as the fires are now under control.

This is according to Knysna mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies, who spoke at a series of meetings throughout the day yesterday.

“They will leave town and we will have a thanking ceremony but not in the form of a braai,” she said.

About 50 residents attended the meeting, with the biggest gripe being a lack of electricity and water.

But Bouw-Spies promised they would have timelines soon as to when they could expect municipal services to be up and running.

“We are struggling to restore the damage to the infrastructure.”

She said working groups had been established to deal with issues such as the environment, housing, tourism, security and social aid.

“We get updates from the groups every day.”

Bouw-Spies said they had applied for Knysna to be declared a disaster area.

At a church, she told residents she was thinking of them.

“I have also seen most of the families of the deceased. It is not nice but I must do it. We are helping them with arrangements.”

She said an aerial survey had shown that 440 structures in the epicentre of Knysna had been damaged.

“The process had to be stopped due to the smoke but it will start again.”

Bouw-Spies said 45 formal houses and 150 informal houses had been lost in White Location.

“We are in the process of resettling the inhabitants.”

Early estimates were that 2 500 jobs had been lost due to the fires. “It is vital that we replace these jobs.”

She said a ring-fenced account would be created for cash donations and an independent committee created to facilitate spending.

“This is to ensure the money is spent on what we need most. We need to regenerate Knysna.”