Fire leaves tenants homeless
One tenant lost everything including important documents.
Fikile Mdakane, the landlord, is still devastated by the incident which almost claimed her own life.
She had just come back from dropping her child at day care when she saw smoke coming from outside her house.
“When I went out to investigate I discovered that one of the shacks was on fire,” said Mdakane.
She then called her neighbours for help and while they tried to put the fire out one of them called the fire fighters.
The tenant who lived in the shack where the fire started was out taking her child to day care.
Her name is Zameka Jama and she lost everything in the fire.
The second tenant Tracy Mahlule was at work when the fire broke out.
Her neighbours managed to get a few of her belongings out before her shack caught fire.
A refrigerator gas exploded on the other shack and it became dangerous for them to continue taking out Mahlule’s belongings.
Fire fighters arrived on time and managed to put the fire out before it went on to other shacks.
The landlord said, “I suspect that a stove which was left unattended might be the cause of the fire.”
Jama who stayed in the shack where the fire started, disputed these claims saying she did not leave a stove unattended.
“I think it might have been an electric fault that caused the fire because I didn’t leave a stove unattended,” said Jama.
Both tenants had do seek temporary accommodation from relatives.
Mahlule managed to get her few belongings while Jama lost everything including her ID, bank cards and SASSA card.
Social workers visited them on Thursday to try and assist them.
