By Nkosenhle Sibisi
Banana City Informal Settlement residents are appealing to eThekwini Municipality to provide them with building materials after 21 shacks were gutted by fire on Friday 16 September. Residents said that it has been a poignant moment for them as they lost everything in the fire.
Bhunga Mqhutywa, one of the fire victims said the past two weeks have been hard as he is now homeless and has been staying at a neighbour’s house.
“I lost everything in the fire, including my Identity Document, bank cards, television and a fridge. Other residents lost important documents which include children’s birth certificates. We suspect that the fire was caused by an electricity fault because it happened when the power came back after load shedding. Luckily, no one was harmed as the fire erupted during the day when most of us were at work and children were at school,” said Mqhutywa.
Bonginkosi Sithole, chairperson of the area committee said that the have not seen any action from the municipality and victims are still homeless.
“What happened is sad because most of the residents at Banana City are unemployed. Those who are working do not earn much to afford to rebuild immediately. We are appealing to the municipality to help us with building materials so we can start the rebuilding process. We don’t want much, just building materials then we will take it from there. The residents are currently staying in other people’s houses. However, we are grateful to everyone who has helped with food parcels and blankets but we still need the municipality to help us,” said Sithole.
Rodgers Vilakazi, a fire expert at the eThekwini Fire and Emergency Service’s said the fire in the informal settlement could be a result of illegal connections and the use of cables that are not regulated to accommodate powerful elect
“Only the investigation report will determine the cause but in most cases of the informal settlement fires, they are caused by illegal connections. Illegal connections are a problem, the street electrical poles carry about 1000 volts which means the households that connect illegally use that power directly as it is instead of the regulated 220 volts. During load shedding, when the power comes back, it comes at a higher volume and causes over heating. If there is anything like curtains, paper next to the cables, there is likely going to be a fire break up,” said Vilakazi.
Vilakazi who spearheads the Public Information Education and Relation (PIER), an initiative that educates disadvantaged communities said he will liase with the ward councillor and meet with residents and educate them on fire safety. “Our programme is aimed at education people about the dangers of the fire and how to prevent it. I will be contacting the Ward 23 councillor and set up a date where we can visit Banana City residents and equip them with information on how to deal with fire,” added Vilakazi.
Ward 23 councillor, Alicia Kisson said what happened is a tragedy but they are thankful that there were no injuries. “I went to Banana City on the day 21 houses were completely destroyed. More than 60 people lost all their belongings in the fire,” she said.
EThekwini Municipality was contacted for comment, however no response was received at the time of going to print.
