Residents also guilty for shackfires
ALEXANDRA - The desperation for housing which forces residents into the indignity of living in shacks also has other costs of loss of property, sometime lives and also the criticism hurled on government for failed service delivery to citizens.
THE desperation for housing, which forces residents to live in shacks costs them dearly through fires, loss of property and sometime lives.
The shacks often mushroom overnight even on the tiniest of spaces, blocking access points for services like fire rescue and medical support.
The desperation for shelter can be seen in how quickly – after a fire -victims reconstruct the shacks, hoping to be spared the next flare-up. This is the typical life of shack dwellers and the poor Alexandrian victims of the most recent fire which, on the 13th November, raised 25 shacks on Alfred Nzo and 14th Avenue.
Its results were costly. An elderly lady and club treasurer, lost R15 000 of stokvel members’ collections.
The money was hidden under a mattress, which was to be shared in December. Another man lost R20 000 and other valuable equipment, while a young lady lost her and her relatives’ identity documents. Other victims also lost memorable items.
Click here to read more on shack fires in Alexandra.
The victims and residents quickly directed the blame onto government, linking it to the slow provision of houses but, should it be the only culpable party?
Some dissenting voices differed with this view. They said, years ago, when shack fires were almost a daily occurrence, government introduced a free fire safety programme, which is now re-run every winter.
The programme includes the provision of safe coking equipment to some of the poorest residents and water buckets to use in extinguishing fires, while anticipating the emergency management services and, education on individual and collective protective responses. Shouldn’t this raise a question about residents’ own culpability for the fires?
Brem Shawe, of Ward 76 said the residents should be truthful to themselves before laying all the blame on government for the lack of housing, thousands of which have been constructed and more are still in the pipeline.
“Residents are still not well trained because they don’t attend workshops on fire safety measures and don’t read pamphlets that are distributed on fire prevention. As a result most of them leave stoves and electric appliances on after use, oblivious of the potential danger. When fires occur, they only blame government,” said Shawe.
He added that most of their electric connections are wired incorrectly, which, in itself, is a risk to electrocuting themselves and in particular, their children. This, he said, happens in the presence of those knowledgeable in fire safety but don’t share the safety information. “Others pretend to know the safety measures as an excuse not to attend safety training workshops,” added Shawe.
Shawe also said criminals who thrived from this situation pretended to help victims but would be rummaging for what to steal, such as copper wire and other electrical items; they then to register for emergency relief support, pretending to be genuine victims.
Click here to read more on shack fires in Alexandra:
People lose valuables in shack fire worth 1000’s of rands
