By Botho Molosankwe
More than 250 families have been left homeless after a fire swept through the Benrose informal settlement near Malvern on Friday.
The fire broke out just after 7am. It took firefighters about an hour to bring it under control. All that was left of people's homes was smouldering rubble.
No one was killed or injured.
Bheki Mcgwana, 30, said the fire had been caused by a candle left burning by a neighbour.
His shack was one of the first ones to go up in flames. "We all tried to douse the flames, but they were too strong because of the dry planks and plastics. I only managed to save my ID book and bank card. I lost everything else," he said.
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Next to him stood Ntombufuthi Ntsele, 27, with her three-year-old daughter, Nobuhle, on her back.
Ntsele was woken by shouts that shacks were burning and grabbed her daughter and a suitcase that is always ready and next to her bed. Like many other shack dwellers, she is always prepared for fires.
"There are fires all the time, all the seasons," she said.
Joburg Emergency Services spokesman Percy Morokane said the shack where the fire started apparently belonged to a 29-year-old man who had fled the scene.
"The number of affected people could rise, as most people are not counted because they are at work."
He denied reports that the fire engines dispatched to the area had responded late, saying the Malvern fire station was not far from Benrose and it had taken them five minutes to arrive at the scene. - Additional reporting by Sapa
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This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on July 17, 2009
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