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The city of Cape Town expects it to take two days to clear the area and allow residents to begin rebuilding.
Residents of Masiphumelele sift through the rubble after last night’s fire that destroyed around 1,000 homes. Image: Kevin Brandt / EWN
CAPE TOWN – Fire-affected Masiphumele residents who have started rebuilding their structures now have to tear them down.
Cape Town city officials at the site said this was to allow the area to be cleared and prepared for the rebuilding process.
Initial assessments indicate that between 4,000 and 5,000 people have been displaced after the devastating fire on Thursday.
The wind fanned pockets of smoke still rising from the rubble as residents band together to help clear the area.
Some began rebuilding their structures on Friday afternoon. A man had already erected the exterior wooden structure of his house when he was told to tear it down again.
# Let’s be successful Some residents have already started rebuilding their structures. KB pic.twitter.com/dek3KwtvZJ
EWN reporter (@ EWN reporter) December 18, 2020
# Let’s be successful A city official tells residents to stop rebuilding as they want to move out and clean up the debris. KB pic.twitter.com/8Rw7SrV8GG
EWN reporter (@ EWN reporter) December 18, 2020
Amid the devastation of blackened zinc sheets, ruined clothing and belongings, there is laughter as a group of people seated together share food and refreshments.
The charred steel frame of a small tricycle sits amid the rubble, an indication that a small child once called that place home.
Kilton Matavele has lived here for five years. He planned to go home to Mozambique for Christmas, but that has vanished with his house.
“I bought all the things. I have two children, one is two years old, the other six months … everything is gone.”
The city expects it to take two days to clear the area and allow residents to begin rebuilding.
Meanwhile, the process of declaring a local state of disaster has begun, which will allow officials to access funds for emergency relief supplies.
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