Nearly 300 residents in Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay are trying to rebuild their lives after their homes were destroyed in a fire in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Resident Andisiwe Busakhwe, 33, says the fire started in one shack at midnight and swiftly spread across the Madiba section, leaving destruction in its wake.
The unemployed woman is currently staying with a friend and says: “I was woken up by the noise and there was a blazing fire.
“It was a chaotic nightmare.
“It’s said a drunk man started it and he has since ran away. A lot of people are now homeless.”
Andisiwe says she and other residents are in urgent need of building materials, clothing and food.
She can be contacted on 078 538 8651.
Disaster Risk Management Centre’s Charlotte Powell, says the fire destroyed 84 dwellings and 298 people were affected.
Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for Fire and Rescue Services, adds: “The fire was extinguished at 6.42am and no fatalities or injuries were reported.”
Meanwhile, on Sunday afternoon, the Little Angels Daycare in Karbonkel Road in Hout Bay caught alight in a mysterious blaze.
The owner Liezel Matthews says this is the second time her crèche burned in a year.
“We sat outside in the sun close to the crèche, I saw some smoke at the back but I thought someone was braaing.
“But after 5pm my niece shouted that the place was on fire.”
“I lost my storage with everything in it, this whole fire was weird because there was nothing I left inside that could have caused the fire.”