Picking up the pieces after fire razes more than 1,000 homes at Kennedy Road informal settlement

A child is still missing after a devastating fire ripped through the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban on Sunday, killing one person and leaving more than 2,000 homeless.

On Monday, some victims of the fire told TimesLIVE they would have to “camp out” in the area until they find material to rebuild their homes as there isn't enough accommodation.

The fire started in the early hours of Sunday and destroyed 1,101 homes, leaving 1,710 adults and 647 children without a roof over their heads.

Vuyani Nkala, 25, from the Eastern Cape, is the only confirmed fatality, with four other people hospitalised, and a child is still missing.

Unconfirmed reports state the fire started after a fight between two men. One set a shack belonging to the other on fire in the central part of the settlement and it spread.

NGOs, including Gift of the Givers, Meals on Wheels and the Red Cross, have been working with eThekwini municipality to assist with the provision of hot meals, mattresses, blankets, baby hampers and mobile toilets.

Ward 25 councillor Themba Mkhize appealed for more assistance, saying the high number of victims means the help they’ve received has not been enough to cover everyone.

“We are getting assistance, but it's not enough to cover people who were affected. That was evident when the organisations were delivering food, it wasn’t enough. The mattresses that were provided did not cover even a quarter of them,” Mkhize told TimesLIVE.

Mkhize condemned “criminal elements” not affected by the fire but taking sleeping material and baby hampers meant to assist the victims at the community hall on Sunday.

“Those are criminals and we’re trying to find ways to mitigate that, but it's hard to control a situation where there are too many people,” he said.

The shortage of the space and sleeping material forced many residents to sleep under trees or go back to the fire area and stay overnight.

“We were a group of 15, but only one of us got a mattress so we came back here, lit a fire and camped the night because there was nowhere else to go,” said 34-year-old Mfanafuthi Maphumulo.

He said about 70 people slept there.

Maphumulo added the houses next to the informal settlement agreed to accommodate the children while those who had relatives living close by went there.

Vumile Shelembe said he had to sleep outdoors for the first time in his life.

“What we need most is building material so we can rebuild and try to pick up the pieces of our lives because we lost everything,” he said.

“Children should be returning to school tomorrow [Tuesday], but they don’t have school uniforms or clothes to change. We have too many problems to deal with, but shelter is the most important.”

Residents have started cleaning up and building temporary shacks using corrugated iron salvaged after the fire. They will use these shelters until they get proper building material, while those who could afford it bought material and started rebuilding.

Co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi visited the area with eThekwini deputy mayor Zandile Myeni to inspect the damage and assess the assistance that will be required.

“It’s dangerous for their health to be in this space because they can [get] chest-related infections like asthma,” Sithole-Moloi said.

“We have activated the department of health to assist. Social development will also [help] with the trauma they have suffered.”

Sithole-Moloi said they have done the assessment and building material will start coming in from Tuesday, including wood and corrugated iron sheets.

“That’s what they asked for. We tried to persuade them for different material, but we also can’t guarantee that another material is not flammable. We will try to tell them the importance of doing away with this material because it’s flammable, but it will take them coming on board and supporting us,” she said.

“We must have consensus with them because we’ve tried to move them somewhere else, but they refused because it was closer to their jobs. So as long as they stay in this manner they are at risk of similar disasters.”

She said the South African Social Security Agency has identified children meant to attend school on Tuesday and will deliver school uniforms for them so they can be ready for school.

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