PHOTO GALLERY: Talana blaze leave infamous hostel shacks in nothing but ash

‘THERE was screaming, a lot of screaming..everyone was screaming…those two guys that were in the shack burned to death.’

This was how an emotional eyewitness described the blaze that gutted through a part of the infamous Talana Hostel in the early hours of Saturday morning.

About 60 crammed-shacks were destroyed and reduced to nothing but ashes.

Two people lost there lives in the tragedy.

‘This is an anticipated tragedy that could’ve be prevented, you can write that, and you can also write the municipality is failing their people,’ someone muttered starring at the charred remains that stood like skeletons on Saturday morning.

The Police are investigating the death of two people

following the burning of 150 shacks at Talana Hostel in the Tzaneen Industrial area. It is alleged that the shacks caught fire and burnt to ashes while the people were sleeping in the early hours of today Saturday March 18 at the hostel,’ Lt Col Moatshe Ngoepe said in a statement.

An eyewitness told Letaba Herald about the four hours off hell and the devastating fire that gutted through the shacks, burning them down one by one, and leaving the people living there only with the clothes they had on when the went to sleep.”A man came in to the hostel and entered one of the tents at the entrance at about 01:00.

‘He had a candle with him, I was told. He was drunk. I am sure he fell asleep and the candle was the cause of the fire. All the shacks were affected. One by one. Everyone was screaming. There was allot of screaming.’ he told the Herald.

According to him someone called the fire brigade.

‘They came after about 45 minutes I think. They were fighting the fire. Those two guys that were in the shack died. Everyone tried to help by pouring water, but the fire came to strongly.The fire was extinguished at around 04:30, according to him.

Officials of the Mopani Disaster Management center were on the scene Saturday morning. A bulldozer was used to scrape away the debris in to a heap.

Men, women and children alike scraped together what they could.

When asking one of them what they were looking for under the rubble, one said, anything I can use to rebuild or use again, standing with a burnt tin mug in his hand.

Food parcels were handed out and tents were erected for those affected by the blaze.

On Sunday morning, the four tents erected were empty with no one in sight.

‘They run away. They won’t sleep here because people died here. They are now staying in Nkowankowa and Modjadjiskloof district. They only sleep here in the week. It is closer to their work.’

According to him most of the people who stayed in the shacks were foreigners. Drugs and prostitution is at the order of the day, he told the Herald.

A lot of them do not even have passports. Some of them are now in town hiding in secret.’

LP Desiree van der Walt, resident of Tzaneen and DA Federal underchairperson told the Herald that this was a disaster waiting to happen.

‘Since my day as ward Councillor during 2000 and 2004 I warned the municipality that they must get the housing problem at Talana in order. There is absolutely no planning that has been done to prevent this tragedy and the hostel is in total decay. Our constitution states that all people will be treated with dignity. Even foreigners. We are not a xenophobic country and human rights should be entitle to all.Van der Walt further said that this is now the perfect (unfortunate) opportunity for the municipality to establish dignity and order at the hostel. Ironically, one of the things that were not destroyed in the fire was a few playing cards lying around amongst heaps of empty liquor bottles.

One card caught the attention.

The Queen of Spades.The Mother of Higher Lifestyle Card. The most powerful card in the deck, that contributes to the ability to shine and be noticed.

The tragedy at Talana was an unfortunate one, and just like any card game, there must be winners and losers…but at whose expense?

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