According to the City of Cape Town, 81 structures in Town Two, Khayelitsha were gutted, leaving 192 people homeless.
A Khayelitsha resident says she is devastated after losing all her savings and belongings in a fire on Saturday morning.
Lubabalo Msuthu, South African National Civic Organisation chairperson in Town Two, said many victims of the fire are still being housed by a local church.
Msuthu said many parents have bought groceries and students uniforms with their social grants last week. “Now they have all burnt. We only saw food coming from the government. The fire victims need more support,” he said.
Ward Councillor Thando Pimpi said he will reach out to school principals to be lenient with affected children who will not have uniforms and stationery. He said there are plans by the City of Cape Town to decongest the area.
“We are planning to remove a certain number of people, place them somewhere and build roads. This will happen after the Silver Town Project beneficiaries have moved into their places,” he said.
The City’s Disaster Risk Management officials in a statement said that Gift of the Givers and SASSA are providing humanitarian support. “The Electricity and Water & Sanitation [departments] will attend to damaged infrastructure, while Solid Waste will remove fire debris. Home Affairs was also activated to assist residents with identity documents.”
