Johannesburg - The remnants of over 70 shacks still smouldered as residents of Mangolongolo informal settlement in Denver, Joburg, tried to pick up the pieces.
In an act of kindness and goodwill, couple Fred and Sheryl, who did not give their last name, rushed to the scene of the fire and started handing out clothes to shack dwellers who had lost everything.
“I saw that the fire was burning and initially thought it was just in an open area. But when I drove past, I realised the settlement was burning,” said Fred.
The fire broke out on Saturday morning and engulfed the settlement within minutes.
Fred said he and his wife had emptied their wardrobes to give their clothes to those in need.
“We can’t just sit by idly and do nothing… We see it as our duty to help,” Sheryl said.
On Sunday, the couple returned to the settlement with bricks and wooden crates so that some residents could start rebuilding their shacks.
“It’s just terrible that this had to happen on the coldest day of the year so far,” Fred added.
The hostess of the Twitter Blanket Drive, Stephanie Young, also came to the burnt-out settlement on Sunday, along with the Acorn Foundation, to hand out T-shirts and blankets.
One of the residents, Elizabeth Mbokane, told of her harrowing experience when the fire broke out Saturday.
“I saw the smoke and the flames… I ran out of my house and shouted for everyone to run, leave their things and run,” she said.
Mbokane said the fire started in a shack next to hers.
“There was a woman who was trying to cook something to eat and her stove caught fire. Everyone wanted to take their things but I told them, ‘just leave it, don’t take your clothes, you need to go or you will die’. It was scary,” she recalled.
Mbokane, whose hands were blackened with soot, said she had lost everything.
“My ID book, my food and my clothes are gone. I can’t even write anything down because my glasses were burnt in the fire too.”
A small part of her brick home still stood, but the inside was blackened and had been destroyed.
“We didn’t sleep at all last night and most of us haven’t eaten. We’re trying to clean up and rebuild,” Mbokane said.
Also lamenting losing everything was Cyrus Kumwenda, who fixes radios and televisions in his shack.
“All the radios and TVs I fix for people were burnt in the fire. The owners are cross, I don’t know what to do,” he said.
No one was killed, according to Joburg Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi.
“It’s reported that the fire started after a paraffin stove fell over in one of the shacks,” he said, adding that it was unclear how many people had been displaced by the inferno.
Some residents, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of their safety, said a woman suspected of causing the fire had been beaten up by locals.
“She had to be rescued and taken to hospital. They nearly killed her,” said one resident.
In November, one person was injured and 40 shacks were destroyed when a fire broke out in the industrial area of Mangolongolo.
undefinedIn September 2010, the settlement was also gutted by two fires that broke out just a few days apart.
The Star