Fire leaves 100 homeless

Cape Town-131218-Nosabelo Tofile is one of about 100 people who lost everything when their Vrygrond homes were razed in the early hours of this morning. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams. Reporter Siyavuya Mzantsi.

Cape Town-131218-Nosabelo Tofile is one of about 100 people who lost everything when their Vrygrond homes were razed in the early hours of this morning. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams. Reporter Siyavuya Mzantsi.

Published Dec 20, 2013

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Siyavuya Mzantsi

A VRYGROND mother who brought her two children, aged nine and 16, from the Eastern Cape to spend Christmas together is now homeless after her shack was destroyed by fire.

Nosabelo Tofile says her wish to spend Christmas with her children was shattered when her personal belongings were destroyed in the blaze.

About 100 residents were left homeless after the fire, that lasted for an hour, destroyed their shacks.

“”I couldn’t believe it when I saw it,” said Tofile, who works for a security company. “The blaze was huge and out of control because it was windy. My kids were the first thing I thought of because I had left them alone when I went to work. I still don’t believe it,” Tofile said.

“My Christmas is completely ruined. I had bought clothes for my kids to wear on Christmas. I don’t know how I will recover what I have lost,” she said.

She said she hopes the City of Cape Town will help her. “They said they will help us rebuild our houses. We have been here since the incident took place. We had no place to stay until a friend offered us a place. We have no family in Cape Town, so we have no one to assist.”

Tofile was a backyard dweller and paid R300 rent a month.

When the Cape Times visited the area yesterday residents had been given food parcels and blankets. Some residents were retrieving what was left of their belongings.

City of Cape Town Disaster Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the city provided shelter for the families at a community hall.

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