A hartseer mother from Bonteheuwel says they have lost everything after their Wendy house was burnt to the ground.
Soraya Julius, 38, says their structure, along with all of their belongings, were destroyed in a fire on Sunday.
“I don’t know what was the cause of the fire but it was started by our neighbours,” she claims.
“We have lost alles from our clothes, our bed, cupboards and all our essential appliances.”
Julius says three other structures were also destroyed in the fire but they are the only ones who lost everything.
“Ek voel baie, baie seer, just the fact that we have lost everything we worked for in 15 minutes.
“The only thing we have left is the clothes we had on, our whole place is on the ground,” she says.
Her husband Avron was too emotional to speak to the Daily Voice but indicated that they have to start all over again after losing all of their goedtes.
Cape Town’s fire and rescue services spokesperson Jermaine Carelse confirms that first responders were alerted just before 1.30pm of informal structures burning in Blackberry Street, Bonteheuwel, on Sunday.
“Crews from Epping and Belhar were on scene with two fire engines, a water tanker and a rescue vehicle.
“A total of six informal structures were destroyed, leaving approximately 30 persons displaced, with no injuries or fatalities reported.
“The fire was extinguished at 2.36pm and the cause is undetermined,” he says.
Mother-of-three Julius says that two of her kids are now forced to stay out of school following the blaze.
“My kinders are devastated because they have nothing, their books and backpacks are all gone now.
“They are also worried because they are writing exams now,” she adds.
Bonteheuwel ward councillor Angus McKenzie says that fire safety remains critical this time of the year.
“While we are not sure if the circumstances surrounding this fire, load shedding has lately played a big role in fires and so we continually ask residents to turn off mains before load shedding and only turn back on afterwards,” McKenzie adds.
He adds that electrical infrastructure vandalism sadly cannot be discounted and illegal connections just further increases the risk.
“Open fires, candles unattended are also extremely dangerous,” McKenzie says.
“Our fire and rescue teams are quick to respond but we would prefer they did not need to either.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za