Toddler dies as fires rage

WEEKEND fires in the Eastern Cape have claimed the life of a toddler and left more than 200 people homeless.

Two fires were reported – one London and one in Butterworth.

Butterworth police spokesman Captain Jackson Manatha said a two-year-old boy died when his home caught fire on Friday night at Manxiweni Location.

The cause of fire is not known but the victim had been with his grandmother, 59.

“It is said that the woman, who was with her two grandsons aged two and four, saw flames in her house. She was brave enough to take the children outside the house but the two-yearold boy was not so lucky. He died on arriving at hospital,” said Manatha.

The grandmother, who has burn wounds on her upper body, was discharged on Saturday morning. Police are considering an inquest docket.

In East London’s Duncan Village more than 200 people were left homeless when 30 Csection shacks were destroyed at about 11pm, leaving children and disabled with nowhere to live.

Protesting residents yesterday morning said

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East their ward councillor, Clara Yekiso-Morolong, had ignored their pleas for help when they asked for shelter in a community hall for Saturday and yesterday night.

When the Dispatch team arrived more than 100 people had closed the main Duncan Village roads with burning barriers.

Police, who were monitoring the situation closely, warned them to stop closing public roads.

Residents expressed their disappointment with Yekiso-Morolong.

Khayalethu Mzoboshe, who lost his home, said on Saturday he had bought groceries worth R400 that were destroyed by the fire. “My clothes and food were destroyed with my house. I had a three-room shack with everything I need but now I am left with nothing but what I am wearing,” said Mzoboshe.

Contacted for comment yesterday, YekisoMorolong said her ward committee had cared for the fire victims. “My committee attended to them and they are expected to sleep at the community hall until disaster management makes plans for them.

“On the housing issue, there’s a lot that must happen before a person gets a house – you don’t just apply and get a house, so let us not talk about that issue for now,” said YekisoMorolong. —