Fewer shack fires expected in Alex this winter
ALEXANDRA - Fewer shack fires are expected this winter in Alexandra and Setswetla as residents implement fire prevention measures learnt in previous winter safety campaigns.
This was revealed by Joburg City officials at the winter safety campaign in Region E.
This was a follow-up to a recent visit to the area by the Mayor Parks Tau who expressed council’s commitment to make safety a collective responsibility by increasing the presence of public safety officials in the area. The campaigns are conducted in all regions, and targets areas prone to fires and warns of the crime hotspots in informal settlements, secluded dwellings, roads and bridges. A recent article in this paper, ‘Police warm women’ of 30 May identified a pedestrian bridge linking Setswetla informal settlement and Marlboro as an area where women have been robbed and raped. For their own safety, women say they don’t use the bridge after dark or if they see suspicious persons approaching from the opposite direction or following behind them.
This year, the campaign delegates led by MMC for Public Safety Sello Lemau and including officials of the Public Safety Department, Emergency Management Services (EMS), South African police services and Metro police crossed the same bridge to Setswetla where they distributed pamphlets and information on fire safety when using candles, paraffin, gas, electric stoves, heaters and naked flames. Also, they sought feedback on the effectiveness of the candle safety method they taught them previously which secures lit candles in a glass jar containing a sand-like material.
They also went to secluded shacks suspected of harbouring criminals and others profiteering from illegal dumping, and asked residents to report suspicious activities from these and other shacks.
According to EMS chief director Tshepo Makola, the campaign was a strategy to curb crime and sensitise communities to the seasonal dangers of fire in winter and water in summer.
“Poor areas are most vulnerable to these dangers, and our periodic campaigns have been a deterrent. Also, the campaigns help in breaking barriers between public officials and the community in turn, developing confidence in residents to report incidents of dumping, crime and illegal fires immediately, especially this winter,” said Makola.
Residents also used the opportunity to ask officials to assist them curb water abuse which they attributed to careless fellow residents who left water taps open after doing their laundry.
Details: EMS Public information, education and relations; 011 758 5050.
