Africa-Press – South-Africa. Over 100 shacks were ravaged by fire at Neva-Neva informal settlement, Philippi, yesterday (8 February), leaving nearly 1 000 people homeless.
It is unclear what led to the incident, but according to community leaders, it happened after the load shedding.
Community leader Nowethu Sautana said they are devastated by the incident.
She said they did not know what to do. They are waiting for the City officials to clear the site so they can rebuild their shacks.
“The fire started after 16:00, just after load shedding. We saw the smoke coming out from one of the shacks. And the flames spread quickly because there was a bit of wind,” she explained.
Sautana stated that the shack where the fire started was empty.
The owner was at work.
“We have about 180 shacks in this section. I think there are less than 50 shacks that are left now. We are not safe here. We were lucky because the fire started in the afternoon. If it was at night there could have been some casualties,” she stated.
When City Vision visited the scene in the morning on Thursday 9 February the City officials were busy assessing the damage.
Some victims were busy clearing their plots to rebuild their homes.
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