Imizamo Yethu falls victim to fire — again — with at least 300 displaced

Living in Imizamo Yethu in Cape Town’s Hout Bay is like living in a tinderbox. 

Ali Sablay, speaking for Gift of the Givers, said the organisation was astounded at how often they have had to help at the informal settlement as fires keep on occurring, incurring great losses of lives, health and homes.

The latest fire was on Sunday night, ripping through the settlement and destroying at least 60 homes.

It has also left at least 300 people without shelter, and the numbers are likely to rise as people who lost their homes are still being registered.

No deaths have been reported.

Resident Nomatamsanqa Khwatshube, 31, lost everything in the September fire last year, and on Sunday night received a dreaded phone call.

“I was in Noordhoek and received a call from my sister saying there’s another fire and it’s close to my house. People tried to take stuff out of my house for me because I was a victim of last year’s fire too. They only got my suitcase, my daughters’ clothes and my fridge. I had lost all my documents in the previous fire,” she said.

Life is hard enough being a single parent to her children who are 13 and 2, and looking after her autistic sister.

Said Sablay, “In the next few hours we will have the exact figures of structures lost and people displaced.”

The team was on the ground on Monday morning providing hot meals, blankets, toiletries, baby packs and other essential items.

Sablay said it is a direct result of a lack of proper housing and that the situation on the ground is “dire”.

“Gift of the Givers has been here at least seven times in the past few years and it is often the same section, Madiba Square. There are some people who have been victims of fire three or four times. Permanent structures are the answer. People have been on the waiting list for so long. National government must come and give answers. The population is increasing and yet there is no space, so people are building homes wherever they can,” Sablay told TimesLIVE.

Also, the “main stress” is getting building materials.

“People have not recovered from the last fire and they don’t have the funds to buy material to rebuild,” said Sablay.

While Imizamo Yethu may be the latest informal settlement to fall victim to fire, it is an ongoing problem across South Africa.

According to research by Stellenbosch University, there are more than 5,000 shack fires a year in the country, and “one of the main problems, when investigating an informal settlement fire, is determining the cause”.

According to the researchers, about 40% of the causes in the last 15 were classified as “undetermined”.

TimesLIVE