Cape Town - A man sustained severe burns when a fire broke out in the Wendy house in which he was sleeping in Manenberg on Tuesday. It also burnt down two houses.
Sandile Tambo, 48, has third degree burns all over his body. He is still in critical condition in hospital. The 10 people who stayed in the house and in the outside structures said on Wednesday that they had nowhere else to go.
Bronwyn Munnick, one of the occupants of the house, said they had to sleep at a neighbour's house on Tuesday night.
“We lost all our possessions in the fire. It broke out about 7am in one of the Wendy houses. And it spread so quickly to our house. I woke up to the screams of my sister. She shouted to me that the house was on fire. There were flames all around us. Next I saw how my brother’s hair was on fire! It was scary.
"I woke up my husband, jumped out of bed, grabbed my child and ran outside. If we had not gotten out the house in time, we might have all been killed. And because we are on the water drip system, we could not douse the flames in time.
“We had to wait for the fire brigade. I thank God that we are still alive. The councillor said that they would be providing the family with a container to live in, but do not have a place to put it. They also did not know when the huge damage to the house will be fixed. They must remember that it is winter and very cold,” she said.
Carol Munnick, another resident who has stayed in the house for more than 30 years, said that one of the people who stayed in one of the wooden structures in the backyard had left a candle burning, which started the fire.
Roegshanda Pascoe, a community worker, said that the fire also destroyed adjacent houses.
“The families lost everything in the fire. They do not know where they will be sleeping. A few weeks ago three children died in a fire that also broke out in a Wendy house at the back of a house, in Valhalla Park. The children were sleeping and died in the fire in the early hours of the morning.The fire was caused by an electrical fault."