Johannesburg - Thousands of Metrorail passengers were left stranded on Wednesday morning as railway tracks were blockaded with mattresses and other household belongings salvaged from burning shacks in Denver.
For two hours, 18 trains running between Naledi in Soweto and Vereeniging via Booysens had to be re-routed via Langlaagte, causing delays of between 40 and 60 minutes, said Metrorail spokeswoman Lillian Mofokeng.
She said 30 000 passengers were affected from 5am.
Operations resumed at 7am as officials were dispatched to the scene to monitor proceedings and ensure the safety of passengers and residents, she said.
At 7am, the smell of burning tin, wood and rubber still hung the air around the Mangolongolo informal settlement as residents woken by the fire at 2am started to rebuild.
A little boy sat in the ash and dirt, the remnants of where his shack once was, as his mother swept away the remains of their belongings to make way for a new shack her husband was planning to erect. Smoke and dust filled the air; mattresses, clothes and other household items lying strewn over the railway tracks.
“It started at about 2 thism morning (on Wednesday) “, it was everywhere,” recalled resident Lovejoy Shabangu.
“We were all sleeping and then we heard people shouting: Fire, fire, wake up, fire,’” he said.
Shabangu grabbed his wife and year-old daughter and they ran for their lives.
“We lost everything, our food, our clothes, we grabbed some Pampers and a few blankets.
“That’s all we have left, all we can do now is rebuild. In the 11 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen it this bad before,” he said.
Another resident, Steven Mahlangu, said he had nothing left.
“I’m a father, I’m supposed to provide. Now my wife and three children have no home, no food and no clothes. It’s all gone, I’m stressed, what can I do now?” he said, tears welling up in his eyes.
In a bid to escape the blaze, residents took refuge on the train tracks next to the informal settlement, stopping trains from operating in the area.
Hundreds of people could be seen sitting on the railway line, holding the last of their belongings.
“Please, we need materials so we can rebuild, wooden boards and tin sheets,” pleaded one resident who identified himself only as Ndaba.
“We’ve had fires before, but never like this. The whole place is gone,” Ndaba said.
Several brick homes were also badly damaged.
Some residents had already started to rebuild. The sound of hammers knocking on wood came from all over. There were several groups working together putting up support structures and wooden beams so they could start putting homes back together.
Joburg Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said they were called at about 3am. “As far as we know, there were no deaths or injuries,” he said.
He was unable to give an exact number of shacks destroyed. “We’re still working it out, it’s too early to tell.”
ANC ward councillor for the area Lindani Zulu appealed to anyone for old clothes, food and blankets. -
Additional reporting by Karishma Dipa
The Star