Ward 114 councillor David Mangena had a different take on the Zandspruit fire occurrences. This month alone, the community has suffered from four fire incidents that have destroyed more than 40 homes and claimed two lives with one person still missing.
The causes of the fire remains unknow but Mangena believed that alcohol is the one reasons behind the incidents. “I’ll be lying if say we know for sure, but on my side, most of these fires happen on weekends and at night. I think people come home drunk and try to cook and forget; some fall asleep with candles on.”
He added that in one of the occurrences, just body parts were discovered.
“We still don’t know for sure what happened, because they only recovered body parts. We are still waiting for the information. In a space of 14 days actually, we lost 41 homes.”
He asked residents to exercise extreme caution and avoid sleeping with candles lit during load-shedding.
Various community leaders and non-governmental organisations have provided affected families with building materials, food, clothing, and other necessities.
“We managed to get materials, food from different government entities and businesses around and blankets from NGOs. We would have meetings on Saturdays and Sundays to discuss the issue and listen to residents’ suggestions and teach one another.”
Meriam Mokone, a distraught resident who lost her home, expressed her defeat. “I’ve lost everything – the beds, cupboards, fridges to my documents, ID and kids’ certificates. I do not know what is happening. But we are grateful for the assistance we are getting and winter is always a problem here with unknown fires.”
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