Load shedding leaves residents homeless!

RESIDENTS of KTC in Nyanga, Cape Town were left homeless after their shacks went up in flames just after electricity returned in their kasi on Tuesday, 27 February.

Resident Thuleka Vakele (45), who lives opposite the shacks, said she was preparing for work when she saw the fire.

“There was load shedding from 2am to 4am, so I woke at 4am to prepare for work. I went out of the house to the toilet just after electricity came back and saw small flames close to St John’s Church. The flames started growing and I knew it was a shack fire. People started coming out screaming and others were trying to extinguish the fire,” she said.

Residents quickly helped a wheelchair-bound woman who lived in the church as the fire was moving fast.   

Community leader Lumkile Msila said they are saddened by the incident but are also glad that no one died.

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“It looks like the return of electricity sparked the fire. The fire started just after load shedding. Now people are left homeless. We need help because some of them do not work. Children lost their school uniforms and books,” he said.

One of the victims, Lungiswa Mathebeni (55) said: “I'm left with only the clothes that I’m wearing. I couldn’t save anything. The woman who lives in church is almost 80 years old and cannot stand up for herself anymore. Some of the victims here survive on picking up cans which they take to recycling companies. We are struggling and we need help."

Jermaine Carelse, a spokesman for Fire Service in the City of Cape Town, said they received an emergency call at about 4.20am.

“Crews from Gugulethu, Mitchells Plain, Lakeside, Landsdowne Road and Ottery Fire Stations attended to the scene with a total of eight firefighting vehicles and 30 staff on scene. By 6am, the fire was extinguished, and it had destroyed 20 structures, one formal dwelling and left over 30 people displaced. No injuries/fatalities were reported, and the cause is unknown,” said Carelse.