Cape winds flare up shack fire at Kayamandi, leading to 1,500 residents displaced
Over 1,500 residents in Kayamandi have been displaced after a fire broke out late on Saturday evening.
According to Ali Sablay, the project manager for the Gift of the Givers Foundation, there was “total destruction” in the impoverished informal settlement near Stellenbosch and as many as 1,500 people could be impacted by the fire.
The fire has decimated homes in the informal settlement gale force winds over the weekend in the Western Cape have only made things worse.
Sablay, who is on-site in Zone O in Kayamandi, said that the excessive winds have picked up and residents have been evacuated.
The winds, according to Sablay are lifting up metal sheets used for informal homes and are posing a serious risk for residents.
“We have to evacuate immediately as metal sheeting is blowing all over the place,” he explained.
Gift of the Givers is working with community leaders and the local councillor, Elliot Masimini, to encourage residents to vacate the area before tragedy strikes.
The Gift of the Givers team is on the ground and is providing residents with hot meals, blankets, mattresses, personal hygiene products and baby products.
He said that the team and government are trying to more as many people as they can to a local hall where they will be housed for the next five days.
Total devastation
Sablay said that the atmosphere on the ground is understandably bleak as people are heartbroken over the “total devastation” and the sheer loss that has occurred.
“They are putting their lives at risk, trying to look through the rubble in order to find the little items they have,” he explained.
When asked if this tragedy could have been avoided, Sablay said that given the density of this area and how many people are cramped in Kayamandi, the disaster was bound to happen.
The winds also made everything worse, he added.
“As soon as one structure caught alight the winds carried it to the next home and this led to the spread of the fire in the informal settlement. Thank God there has been no loss of life.”
This is not my first fire!
Asemahle Matyholo, a 23-year-old resident of Kayamandi said that this is not her first fire.
Matyholo has finished an internship and is looking for work.
“It’s not the first time but I never get used to the trauma. Living in shacks is another thing. One moment you have a home the next moment it’s gone just like that. Now we have to rebuild but we are never safe or secure.” she explained.
She said that she is thankful that her family is safe.
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