About 300 people living in Mahlangu informal settlement, Olievenhoutbosch, were left homeless on Sunday morning when close to 250 shacks were destroyed by fire allegedly started by a burning candle.
Local community policing forum deputy chairperson, Ruth Senoamadi, on Monday pleaded for assistance from good Samaritans. They were urged to donate essentials, such as food, school uniforms for children and stationery after all items were burnt to ashes.
She said the displaced people were temporarily being sheltered at the two local churches, Life In Christ and Apostolic Faith Mission.
“They are currently still in churches, where they will be accommodated until Tuesday, because church people will need the space for fellowship,” she said.
She was told that the fire was started by a burning candle which was left unattended by one of the residents. The fire then spread to destroy nearby shacks and all their contents.
Senoamadi said she was able to secure a few 12,5 kg bags of mealie meal, cabbages and eight loaves of bread to feed the stranded residents.
She, however, said they struggled with cooking the meal, because only one two-plate gas stove was donated by one of the churches.
On the other hand, she said, the City of Tshwane was able to donate at least 61 mattresses and 61 blankets.
MMC for Human Settlements, Ofentse Madzebatela, visited the settlement on Sunday morning to assess the extent of the disaster.
He said the municipality asked different non-profit organisations to come and assist in terms of offering temporary shelters to shack fire victims.
“We have had about 300 people who had been affected by this fire. We will provide blankets, as well as other needed relief, because kids are affected and have no school uniforms, food and other things. We are calling on those who can assist us to get into contact with the Social Development Department, or the Department of Human Settlements,” he said.
Madzebatela said the current municipal administration continued to work hard to eradicate more than 500 informal settlements in Tshwane.
“Our plan is to ensure that at least every financial year there are about 20 informal settlements that we are able to upgrade up to phase two and develop them further after that. Part of phase two is to re-block shacks so that when one shack catches fire it does not affect all these shacks,” he said.
He further discouraged people from illegally invading land, “because if we continue to invade land, we slow down the process of ensuring people have housing”.
The City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department has reportedly undertaken to embark on public awareness campaigns at the informal settlement to educate the community on fire safety and disaster risk reduction.
Pretoria News