http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5550352

Burning question

July 11, 2010 Edition 1

LIFE for the residents of Kennedy Road shack settlement, on the edge of a municipal dump in Durban, is miserable.

This week a fire whipped through the shanty town, killing two people and leaving 2 000 homeless. The blaze was caused by a candle or paraffin lamp. It was one of three fatal shack fires in the past seven days. In Khayelitsha nine people died in a fire, while in Soweto a toddler died.

Shack settlements mushroom in inappropriate places, but they are a fact of life and they are home to people streaming into our cities in search of work. Housing them safely is a huge challenge.

Surely it is time to intensify in situ upgrades of settlements to provide decent sanitation and electrification? There must be more creative ways to approach the housing problem. One more life lost to fires is one too many.