Eleven families have been left homeless after a fire gutted their shacks at Mkholombe Informal Settlement in Port Shepstone recently. One of the residents whose home was completely destroyed by the fire, Bongani Mgogo said he lost all his belongings and now has to rebuild.
“I was coming back from work at around 4pm when I saw my home in flames. I tried to get help but things got worse as electrical cables and the transformer was also on fire. A number of homes were destroyed in the process. We do not know how the fire started. My home is completely destroyed, I lost my furniture, Identity document (ID), food and other valuables. My neighbour witnessed his car getting destroyed in the fire as well.The municipality has currently placed us into temporary shelters but we are at risk of rain damage due to the current bad weather conditions,” he said.
Magogo added that most of the residents who were left homeless are currently staying with their relatives and friends in the area, until they rebuild their homes again. Resident, Xolani Vezi said he was lucky to had made it home in time as his children were at home when the fire started. “I thank God, I came back from the shop just in time to rescue my children from the fire. Things are really bad currently and we have lost everything we had. I am hopeful that some of our belongings will be restored as the Municipality leadership visited the community on the day of the fire. At the moment we just have to wait as I haven’t seen any promises being delivered by the leadership,” said Vezi.
The MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, Jomo Sibiya together with Ray Nkonyeni Municipality Mayor, Cllr Skhumbuzo Zero Mqadi, Speaker Cllr Zodwa Mzindle and other officials visited the Informal settlement to access the damage caused by the fire. Ray Nkonyeni Municipality spokesperson, Simon April said the need to assist the residents was identified by the leadership following their observations. “Both MEC Sibiya and Mayor Mqadi have acknowledged that processes of eradicating informal settlements through provision of decent houses has to be fast tracked to avoid such incidents for occurring in the future,” said April. Ward 20 Councillor,Gasa said no injuries were reported. “It is good to know that there were no injuries or fatality following the fire.The municipality will attend to this matter with a sense of urgency,” he said. The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.
