Fire destroys historic home

Published Jul 23, 2015

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When Clairwood resident Manoj Maharaj locked his house and left for a car show in Scottburgh on Sunday morning, little did he know he would get a frantic call a few hours later informing him that his 90-year-old wood-and-iron home was on fire.

“My neighbour called and shouted into the phone telling me my grandparents’ home was on fire. My two friends and I immediately left the car show and returned home,” said Maharaj, 53, who is self-employed.

While he drove to Cherry Road in Clairwood, his neighbours armed themselves with buckets of water and hose pipes and desperately tried to douse the flames before firefighters arrived.

“But when I got home, the house was burnt down. There was nothing more the fire department could do.”

He and members from the community were trying to clean the area and salvage what they could from the three- bedroom home.

All that remained was a few burnt photographs, his 21-year-old daughter Ashvika’s rag dolls and her first pair of shoes.

“I have nothing. I only have the clothes on my back,” said Maharaj, who lived at the house with Ashvika. She celebrated her 21st birthday on Thursday and went to stay at her mother’s home.

Maharaj said the house, one of the oldest in the area, belonged to his grandparents.

“It was handed down to my father, Ishwar Maharaj, the secretary of the Clairwood Ratepayers’ Association, and when he died I inherited it.

“This was a landmark building, not only because it was over 90 years old but because many of ratepayers’ meetings were held here or under the China guava tree in the yard.”

A photograph of the house appeared in Juggie Pather’s book Clairwood: The Untold Story.

Maharaj said the house was not insured.

On Monday, concerned residents met to discuss how they would rally together to help the family. One of their aims is to rebuild the house.

The divisional commander of the Durban Central Fire Department, Alfred Newman, said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the fire.

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