South Africa

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3806952
April 30, 2007 Edition 1

BRONWYN GERRETSEN

The ground was a mass of black ash, and the stench of burned flesh and charred debris filled the air at the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban yesterday, just hours after a fire destroyed 100 shacks and killed two people.

Residents believe the fire was started by a candle in a shack at the bottom of a hill on Saturday night. The blaze spread rapidly, engulfing the homes of more than 200 people and destroying everything but the clothes on their backs.

The two who died in the blaze were identified as Ephraime Phungula and Ben Mhlakwana, a 31-year-old mother of two – the youngest of whom is a 6-month-old baby.

Mhlakwana’s sister, Bernadita Parkies, 30, said her sister had saved her baby by throwing him on to the roof of a shack, where he had been rescued by his father, before going back into the shack to fetch something and being caught in the blaze.

Yusuf Bheki Simelane, a 30-year-old security guard, was at work when the fire broke out. His wife was at home and his children, aged 3 and 13, were at their grandmother’s house in a neighbouring area.

“When I got home, I found that everything was burnt . . . I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said.

Yesterday, some residents were already constructing the walls of new homes.

Sibongile Vilani, 57, said she had lost everything in the fire, including her ID book, and would have to ask some of the men in the community if they would rebuild her home for her.

The homeless will be housed in the community centre until their homes are rebuilt.

Residents told The Mercury that they were awaiting the arrival of food parcels from the municipality’s disaster management branch.

With winter around the corner, more shack fires can be expected throughout the province as people make increased use of heaters and candles to keep warm.

Billy Keeves, manager of the disaster management office, said one of the municipality’s long-term plans was the eradication of informal settlements and the establishment of proper housing.

bronwyn.gerretsen@inl.co.za