Ten family members have been left homeless and with only the clothes on their backs after a fire gutted their Mitchells Plain homes.
A hartseer Anthea Beyers, 40, says everything was destroyed, including the Christmas clothing, food and gifts she bought on special for her four children on Black Friday.
Now she doesn’t know how they and her sickly mom Cheryl Hayes, 59, are going to get by.
The main house as well as three Wendy houses in the yard were destroyed in the blaze that broke out on Sunday just before 10pm in Megan Street, Tafelsig.
Anthea says luckily her mom was with her and not in the main house when the fire started.
HARTSEER: Anthea Beyers, 40.
Cheryl suffered a stroke five years ago and is not able to walk or talk properly.
“It was myself, my mother and my boyfriend watching television in my home when the electricity suddenly went off,” explains Anthea.
She says the main house was locked up and there was no one inside.
She says her boyfriend and her brother tried to get into the house and douse the flames with buckets of water from the neighbours, but it spread too fast.
“He saw that the fire had started in the back bedroom and the fire was already outside the windows,” she says.
She says the fire spread quickly to the Wendy houses and because the dwellings are built close together, there was a lot of smoke and flames.
“My boyfriend had to crawl to get to us in my Wendy house, but managed to get us out.
“My home and my brother’s home burnt within five minutes.
“We couldn’t save anything, only our lives.
“We did Black Friday and I bought my children’s Christmas clothing and now we have nothing. We are just glad that no one got hurt.”
The family says they believe the cause of the fire may have been an electrical fault.
Family left homeless after fire. Picture: Jack Lestrade
The City’s Fire and Rescue spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, says residents became unruly as firefighters tried to douse the flames despite police and soldiers on the scene.
“The first arriving fire crews were confronted by an extremely hostile crowd.
“The army and SAPS, who were already on the scene, left the area as the firefighters battled the fire. The fire was extinguished at 11.05pm.
“No injuries were reported and the cause is unknown.”
If you would like to assist call Anthea on 064 261 6074.