‘I came close to losing it all’

POLOKWANE – “God was good; at least I still have a roof over my head. If my house had burnt down, I would have had nothing more to live for.”

The elderly man, Pieter Venter, was referring to a run-away fire that gutted his entire plot in Palmietfontein, except for his house, last Thursday. Several neighbours also suffered losses. The fire nearly reached the gas bottles standing against the house, but was stopped just in time. Besides losing everything except his house, Venter was also left without electricity as his generator was also destroyed. Other items he lost included his entire irrigation system, several engines, and a caravan used as storage. Two of his cats lost their kittens in the fire.

It is alleged that striking employees of the Silicon Smelters plant were responsible for starting the fire. Roads in the vicinity were blocked with large concrete blocks and rocks last Thursday, residents said.

Louise and Fred Arnoldi said they lost all their grazing and feeding their livestock would now cost them around R500 per day. Fred had just completed replacing old fences and erecting new fences the week before, and estimated the damage to the fences alone was worth R80 000.

“An emergency call from one of our neighbours could not be responded to because we were fighting the fire on our own smallholding,” Fred said.

Annelize and Hennie Ferns said their father, Jim, lost some pigs in the fire after the outbuildings and pig sties caught fire. Some of the pigs trying to escape the inferno were found dead in the veld by neighbours. The Ferns said they estimated their damages at some R96 000.

No lives were lost in the fire and only superficial injuries were sustained.

The firefighting operation by residents was coordinated by Marieta Kruger, and the fire department also arrived later to assist. It is estimated by residents that some 20 smallholdings were damaged, with four smallholding owners having already opened criminal cases with the police.

Municipal spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene, said the municipality suffered losses of around 500ha of grazing in the game reserve and so far no animals had been reported dead. She said processes were underway to pursue the issue of compensation.

Meanwhile, the strike at Silicon Smelters is over, according to human resources and legal corporate manager, Billy van Rooyen, who said the company and employees had reached an agreement on Friday following a wage dispute.

Van Rooyen said the allegation that the fire emanated from Silicon Smelters employees was “speculation” and he did not have any knowledge about fires being started by employees.

Van Rooyen acknowledged the striking workers caused damage “here and there”, but he told Review that they could only begin estimating the extent of the damage at the plant once “things have gone back to normal”.