Families who live in Hercules, a Tshwane informal settlement, are pleading for assistance after they lost all their belongings and valuables in a fire that destroyed over 10 shacks on Tuesday leaving at least 30 people displaced.
When Newsnote visited the Hercules informal settlement on Saturday, some residents whose shacks were destroyed were still trying to rebuild while others are now living and sharing three tents said to have been supplied by the municipality on Friday.
Celia Modisakeng, said the tents are only a temporary measure because the municipality said they will take them back after three weeks and pleaded for donations because she lost everything including her clothes in the blaze.
“Our shacks have been destroyed. The incident happened when I was still at work on Tuesday and when I came back I found that all my belongings were destroyed. They gave us tents but they said it is only for three weeks then they will come get them.
“My children have also lost their clothes. We have nothing. We would really appreciate any assistance. We lost birth certificates for my children and we also lost IDs. I am only left with the clothes that I am wearing. This is very painful,” said Modisakeng who lives with two children aged 2 and 7 and three other family members.
Oupa Ralepele is pleading for assistance to help rebuild his shack.
“Our shacks have burned down. We are asking for assistance from you, the community and everyone who will be able to assist. City of Tshwane was here and they gave us tents and food parcels. We still need your assistance with materials to rebuild our shacks. We are urging people to come and see our living conditions.
“We have lost our IDs, furniture and clothes. We don’t have anything. We don’t know where to start because we are unemployed and we have been struggling to get jobs. The fire started down the street and affected all the houses in our block. It burned down over 10 shacks so please help us,” he added.
Jan Mathole said they tried to extinguish the blaze but the fire started spreading fast.
“It was Tuesday when the fire started. We make money with recycling because there are no jobs. So we were busy sorting out the things we recycle. We tried to stop the fire but it was moving fast,” he said.
Mathole said they don’t have a place to sleep and asked for help getting new IDs.
“We had a four bedroom shack with a kitchen. We lost all the beds, kitchen unit, our IDs, clothes, phones and building materials. Police came and took our statement but we haven’t received any feedback. We are asking for assistance.
“We don’t have a place to sleep since we lost everything. We are pleading for assistance. We are also calling on the Department of Home Affairs to assist us with IDs. We don’t even have money to make applications for new IDs so we hope the department will come to us to assist us with the new IDs,” said Mathole.
