A fire, reportedly sparked by a child playing with firecrackers, ravaged the Barcelona informal settlement in Gugulethu on Tuesday.
The blaze, which began around 2pm, reduced 30 homes to ashes and left approximately 100 residents without shelter.
As per the Cape Argus, eyewitnesses reported that the fire originated in a shack where children were seen playing after one of the children allegedly threw a firecracker at an old mattress.
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A resident stated, ‘I wasn’t around when the kids were playing with the crackers; I wasn’t around when the fire started. One child who is pointed out as the main culprit is about 4 years old, even though we know there may have been older kids with him. There is nothing that we can do because they were just playing and we have no choice but to restart our lives.’
The fire’s aftermath has left the community in a dire state.
‘The sad thing is that the City doesn’t provide building material any more. We have to find our own way of rebuilding our homes. We have temporarily moved in with our relatives while we wait for donations. We have gone to Sassa for IDs and vouchers but were told that they have closed and might open next week,’ a resident explained.
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Community leader Nono Ngondo commented, ‘I arrived at the scene and at the time, only one shack was alight. We called the fire department. It then spread to other shacks, and a lot of people have been displaced and some have nowhere to go.’
Ngondo plans to address the issue of firecrackers being sold to minors.
‘We are going to have a meeting with them because they were not supposed to sell these things to children, especially 4-year-old children,’ she said.
Jermaine Carelse, a spokesperson for the City’s Fire and Rescue Service, confirmed that crews from Landsdowne, Mitchell’s Plain and Kuils River extinguished the fire by 4:30pm. He reported no injuries or fatalities but noted that the cause remains unknown.
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Picture: Michel Oeler / Unsplash