On Wednesday afternoon in Philippi East, Cape Town, a fire in the Never-Never informal settlement rendered almost 300 people homeless.
Residents think loadshedding is to blame for the fire, but fire and rescue officials claim there isn’t enough evidence to back this up. There were no reported injuries.
According to the victims, they lost all of their valuables, including IDs, passports, school stationery and uniforms, as well as all of their furniture.
Thumeka Mninzi claimed she got home from work to find her house destroyed. “All I am left with is what I’m wearing. I don’t know how I’m going to start afresh. This fire is devastating,” she said.
Lungelo Lisa said, “If it was not for loadshedding, we would not be without our homes. One of our neighbours left a stove on while cooking when loadshedding started. When the electricity came back on, the stove was on and a fire started.”
According to Charlotte Powell, a representative for the City Disaster Risk Management, the fire damaged 130 homes and impacted 333 people.
According to Jermaine Carelse, a spokesperson for the Fire and Rescue Service, the call came in at 4:20 p.m., and firefighters were only able to put out the fire at 10 p.m.
He said there was no indication that loadshedding caused the incident, but he advised locals to be careful and turn off their appliances during these periods.
Residents of Never-Never are now begging with the government to relocate them since the region is overcrowded and lacks proper roadways and storm water drainage.
Only water taps and toilets serve as community sanitation facilities.