Cape Town - For the sixth time this year 160 residents of Dunoon, near Milnerton, watched in despair as a fire devastated the informal settlement - reducing all their possessions to ash and prompting the community to initiate a contingency plan.
The residents were among about 400 people who were displaced following fires in seven informal settlements across the peninsula at the weekend.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, mother-of-three Tokoza Xamlashe was woken by a cry for help as a fast-moving fire headed in her direction. “I woke my children, grabbed the baby and ran. There was no way that I was able to stop that fire. It was big and spreading very fast,” said Xamlashe.
“We rebuild, then lose our belongings. So the cycle continues. It is heartbreaking and terrible, especially because I know I am not responsible.”
City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the cause was unknown.
At a meeting on Sunday, community leaders implored residents to be more careful about leaving fires unattended.
According to community leader Thembinkosi Janda, residents were considering establishing a night patrol to check whether residents had properly extinguished fires before they went to sleep.
“We will have meetings. The selected group will be responsible for ensuring that people kill their fires properly and report to me anyone who has fallen asleep with their candles still lit. This needs to end,” said Janda.
Residents of the informal settlement did not have access to electricity.
Janda said they had been occupying the land illegally for the past six years because there was no other place to stay.
Solomons-Johannes said the fire was one of eight at the weekend. On Saturday night, 63 people were displaced when fires swept through Masiphumelele, Philippi, Strand and Khayelitsha.
On Friday night, 118 people from Kanana informal settlement in Gugulethu and 41 people from Joe Slovo also lost their homes in shack fires.
Solomons-Johannes said on Sunday the causes of the fires were not yet known.
In another incident in Elsies River on Friday night, a 58-year-old woman died during a fire, leaving a male occupant displaced.
The cause of that fire was also being investigated.
Cape Times