Scores of people have been left homeless in Greenville, Alexandra, after a fire burnt a number of shacks on Thursday.

Residents said the fire started at one of the shacks not far from London Road at about 11am and spread through the area. At 6pm, firefighters were still battling the blaze.

One of the residents, Zingisile Sandla, said: "I was sleeping when I woke up to realise people were screaming about the fire. I went out to help with water in buckets. Only one shack was on fire. But the tap is far so the fire gained momentum and burnt more shacks. My shack burnt down too."

Sandla said he was only able to take a few items like ID documents but the rest of his possessions all went up in flames.

It has not been established how many shacks burnt down and the final number of people left homeless.​