Women and children have had to be evacuated from the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children in Manenberg after a fire broke out in a dormitory on the first floor of the building.
City of Cape Town’s Fire & Rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse says the cause of the blaze is unknown at this stage and no fatalities have been reported.
Carelse says, “It took about two hours to extinguish the fire. It’s not known at this stage how other parts of the building complex, that accommodates historic artifacts, have been affected by the fire.”
The city’s fire and rescue service was alerted to the fire at the shelter for vulnerable women and children in Klipfontein road, just after seven this morning, fire crews from Epping, Gugulethu and Ottery responded to the fire.
The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children (SBCWC) was opened in 1999 as the first multi-disciplinary service centre for abused women and children in the country.
The centre provides services for abused women & their children which include; safe accommodation, counselling, legal assistance, economic empowerment and is based on the Cape Flats, Cape Town.
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