Residents of Duncan Village in the Eastern Cape are picking up the pieces after a fire claimed a life of a 25-year-old male and destroyed 30 shacks.
The cause of the blaze, which left 80 people homeless, is unknown at this stage.
However, investigations are continuing.
Nonqaba Sindondi, whose son died in this fire, is reeling with shock. As someone who is struggling to make ends meet, she now faces the daunting task of having to arrange a funeral.
She has called on any good Samaritan to lend a helping hand.
“I feel so helpless l don’t know what to do my heart is sore after seeing my son burning to ashes, no parent should witness that,” says Sindondi.
Residents in the area believe, if they had decent shelter, this wouldn’t have happened.
“Look how old I am, I have been waiting for a house for a long time,” says one resident.
“We lost everything from ID documents, certificates even today we don’t know where we will sleep,” adds another community member.
Authorities from the Buffalo City Municipality say they’re doing all they can to ensure affected families have shelter.
Buffalo City Metro Spokesperson, Samkelo Ngwenya, says: “We are preparing means to ensure that they can have a place to sleep tonight. We have sent our disaster management teams to take down the numbers so that we linked with the social development department as well as the home affairs department. We are working with other structures to find any sort of relief.”
An appeal has been made to residents of informal settlements to be cautious, as shack fires are common during the winter season.
MUNICIPALITY RESPONDS TO DEVASTATING DUNCAN VILLAGE FIRE
The Buffalo City Metro is dealing with the aftermath of a devastating fire that took place in Duncan Village in the early hours of this morning.
The Fire department responded to an incident at 03:30am in Gwijana Street. pic.twitter.com/VFsFy4SS9B
— Buffalo City Metro (@OfficialBCMM) July 3, 2021
Shack fire in Duncan village claims one life:
