Cape Town - Thirty Barcelona residents were left destitute after a devastating fire tore through their local community, destroying in its wake their homes and all their belongings.
Community leaders from the area say they have begun rallying for support and donations for the affected residents whose homes were part of the 15 shacks that burned down on Monday evening.
Community leader Nolusindiso Mangxa said: “Residents are completely devastated by what happened. They feel hopeless, especially now that we have told them that they will not be getting support from the government to rebuild their homes.
“They are at a loss for what to do. They have lost everything they had, and some don’t even know where to turn to start rebuilding their lives. Right now women, children and the elderly are just sitting outside next to the debris, they are hungry and tired.
“What’s worse is that even though we called the Disaster Risk Management Centre, they still haven’t come out. Things are really bad here. We even have a Grade 12 learner here, she attends Heideveld High. She lost everything in the fire, she was preparing for her finals. We need help. If anybody can assist, please let them come forward,” said Mangxa.
Barcelona councillor Bongani Ngcombolo said: “The situation we are sitting with is not easy to navigate because the City is now refusing to do anything. As much as we can source clothes, blankets and food for a few days, the most important thing people need is support to rebuild their homes.
“They need material, and while I must stress that shacks are not the form of permanent housing people should be looking towards, these structures at least gave them shelter in the meantime.
“The City might say that the national government took the grant and gave it to Sassa, but at the end of the day what did they do? What was their response to that? Because we live in a city where one local community or the other is going up in flames every other day? The City is responsible for the people living in it, so how is it that they are content with not being able to help people in need,” said Ngcombolo.
In response, the City’s Mayco member for human settlements, Malusi Booi, said: “The City until recently was the only metro in South Africa to provide enhanced fire kits to fire-affected residents as an additional service, outside of formally declared disasters. It was paid with the national grant funding. Now there is no more money.
“Traditionally, we did so to enhance turnaround times and offer assistance where we could. We continue to look at all options and we are still providing assistance where we can. We remain committed to looking at all possible avenues to assist fire-affected residents.
“Every instance of fire is assessed and a specific approach is developed as all instances will have unique circumstances. The City enables and facilitates soft relief, such as donations, site clearing, verification and assessments for assistance. We call on the national government not to reduce grant funding so that these relief kits may be provided again,” said Booi.