Several shops have been destroyed in a fire at the busy Bara Taxi Rank in Diepkloof, Soweto, leaving business owners counting the cost of the damage.
The incident happend on Wednesday morning. One of the affected shop owners, Stanley Morake, said he was devastated by the incident. Morake has owned three shops at the taxi rank shopping centre for more than 50 years, dating back to the establishment of the shopping centre.
“It is sad because now we have to spend money trying to fix this,” he said.
Morake said he received an early morning phone call informing him that his shops were on fire.
“We are not too sure what happened until the investigators complete their work,” he said.
Despite the extensive damage, Morake expressed gratitude that there was no looting and said members of the public assisted him in salvaging what remained of his stock.
Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) firefighters managed to contain the blaze and prevented it from spreading to nearby shops.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Johannesburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi had not responded to media queries at the time of publication.
