350 homes destroyed in shack blaze

More than 350 informal units were destroyed in a fire that broke out at Durban’s Dakota informal settlement in Isiphingo, leaving hundreds of residents displaced at the weekend.

According to the eThekwini Municipality, there were no fatalities or injuries reported in the fire.

“The City’s firefighters worked through the night to extinguish the blaze. They managed to save 50 dwellings,” said eThekwini head of communication Lindiwe Khuzwayo.

ALSO READ | Man dies, 15 homes destroyed in shack fire

Displaced families were relocated to a nearby community hall and provided with necessities and food.

Khuzwayo said the City’s disaster management teams were conducting assessments to determine the nature and extent of further assistance to be provided.

READ MORE

Fugitive Pietermaritzburg insurance broker fraudster disappears — again

Ward Councillor

Ward 90 PR councillor Lindiwe Mthembu said it was alleged that illegal connections sparked the fire at one of the light poles in the area.

The firefighters were here quickly but because there are no passages and road access to where the fire was, it spread at the pace it did … People are afraid to move because they want to guard their furniture that survived the fire.

Mthembu added that Durban was suffering due to urban migration. She believes that if services were also provided in rural areas, that would prevent overpopulation and the spread of informal settlement.

The Dakota settlement has recently been partially electrified to avoid the impact of illegal connections on neighbouring business and residents.

Community activist Mel Gounder said more than 1 000 people are in need of food, clothing, bedding and mattresses.

We sent a call for help to members of the community and we were pleased with the response we received and many organisations have reached out and started dropping off donations.

Gounder said it was not clear what started the fire. However, the heavy winds fanned it. A community member said they had never seen such a disaster in the community.

ALSO READ | Former eThekwini deputy mayor wants uMvoti mayor out

“I was not able to save my shack but I was able to salvage my ID book,” he said, adding that he hoped the municipality could speed up the process of building them new houses.

The eThekwini Municipality said in the past year it has acquired more than 13 500 hectares of land for housing development and had built 15 799 free homes for qualifying beneficiaries.