Johannesburg - Many residents lost their belongings on Tuesday when a fire engulfed the Jeppestown block of flats they had been living in.
The Red Ants were evicting them when the blaze started.
A resident, who didn’t want to be identified, said someone had thrown a petrol bomb into the building. However, police and Joburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) could neither deny nor confirm this.
Some residents, who had managed to get their belongings out of the buildings before the fire started, sat on the roadside surrounded by their beds, fridges and other possessions, watching the flames engulf the property.
Others said they were called from work and informed about the evictions but arrived too late to save their belongings.
Mfundo Khumalo said he was at Jeppe police station when he heard about the evictions.
“A friend called to tell me about the fire, but by the time I arrived, it was too late. I lost everything. The only things I have left are the clothes I’m wearing.” He said he didn’t know where he was going to spend the night.
Khumalo said there had been meetings about the evictions but no agreement was reached on the date. “Everyone was caught off guard.”
Jeppe police spokesman Warrant Officer Richard Munyai said three men were injured.
“We suspect they got fractures while trying to remove their things from the building.”
Munyai said the owners of the building had welded the entrance shut after the evictions so that no one could could go back inside.
EMS spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said: “The seven-storey building caught fire. The fire also spread to the next building, partially burning it.”
He said the cause of the fire was being investigated.
The Star