Town in shock as clubhouse burns down
Damage caused by the fire is estimated to be about R2.5m
Eskom’s load-shedding most likely caused the devastation of Stutterheim’s historic country clubhouse, which went up in smoke on Wednesday night, causing damage estimated at R2.5m.
The fire destroyed the club’s Memorable Order of Tin Hats (Moth) hall and all its irreplaceable memorabilia. Photographs of the club, as well as 12 golf club sets, were destroyed by the blaze in the locker rooms, said golfer and club member Derick Jones, 72.
The Amahlathi fire department said preliminary investigations indicated the fire started when the power was restored after load-shedding at about 9pm.
Fire chief Louis Mostert said it was believed one of the cooks had forgotten to switch off a deep-fryer when the building was plunged into darkness.
“The kitchen staff left at 7pm and the power came back on just after 9pm. The fire was reported to us at 10.47pm,”
Mostert said.
Mostert feared if load-shedding continued, firefighters’ jobs would be made even more difficult as the outages caused water cuts as well.
“We had water problems related to Eskom outages which affect our town mains. The blaze was brought under control at 1.30am, at which time the rear of the building was largely unaffected.”
Firefighting units remained on the scene until 3am, he said.
Mostert said plans had been put in place for a four-man team to monitor the blaze, but this did not happen.
“We were called out again at 4.17am. On arriving at 4.27am, all salvaged areas were completely gutted.”
Mostert said the firefighting operation took a collaborative effort, involving fire crews from Amahlathi and local business Rance Timbers, which immediately commenced with fire suppression operations.
“We already have plans to rebuild, but we are waiting for the insurance company to do an assessment and then we will be able to give a full statement,” said club president Eric Wylde.
The Ken Muzzell Avenuebased club has 350 members who play golf, tennis, squash, cricket and hockey and participate in park runs every Saturday. It employed 12 people, including cooks.
Amathole District Municipality spokesperson Nonceba Madikizela-Vuso agreed that Eskom’s load-shedding had put a strain on the Stutterheim water supply system.
“Our water pumps are powered by electricity at all our plants in six local municipalities.
“Following a power outage, the system takes three to four hours to recover. In most cases you find that the power goes out during the recovery process,” Madikizela-Vuso said.
“It is bad enough that we are battling with the drought disaster in the district. Load-shedding is causing complete havoc with our water supply system.”
Jones said the club was an important part of the town.
“It’s basically what keeps people here in Stutterheim with all the problems we have.
“The club is a sort of recreation point where we all meet. But it’s a strong town and we will just rebuild,” said Jones.
Buck King, who joined the club as a 16-year-old in 1974, had booked the club for a funeral service for his mother on Tuesday.
“I will now organise it at the bowling club,” he said.
Barbara Winearls lost a set of clubs in the blaze. “It’s sad because this is a gathering place for the community,” she lamented.
Another long-serving member, John Rance, 71, who joined in 1968, said he was glad there was no loss of life.
“There is lots of history that has gone but it’s just brick, iron and timber.
“The history of the Moth hall has been burnt but things like photographs you can’t replace. The building will be rebuilt.”