WATCH | ‘Imbawula is our only hope’: Kliptown residents brave cold with makeshift heaters

As a bitter cold front sweeps across Gauteng and other parts of the country, residents of Kliptown informal settlement say they have little choice but to turn to dangerous makeshift fires and braziers to keep warm.

When Sowetan visited the area, women had wrapped fleece blankets around their waists, while others remained in their gowns and sleepwear.

The area does not have electricity and for many residents an imbawula, a brazier, is their only source of warmth.

Resident Imininathi Mntombi said: “There is nothing else that can help us keep warm except using an imbawula. We put wood inside the tin and when the smoke has subsided we take the burning brazier inside the house. But we don’t sleep with it because we know it is dangerous.”

She said her household had designated a separate shack for cooking and making fires where family members could sit and eat before returning to their homes. “We sit and eat there and when everyone is going home, we put out the fire” she said.

Prudence Khanyi said residents sit outside not because they want to but because their shacks are too cold. She said families often only light fires at night for cooking and warmth. For many households, safer alternatives such as gas or paraffin are unaffordable.

“We cannot afford gas or paraffin so we have to collect wood to make fires, cook and keep warm,” Khanyi said.

Even when we connect illegally, the electricity comes and goes. We cannot afford paraffin or gas because they are expensive, and most of us are not working

—  Sibongile Hlatshwayo, resident

Resident Sibongile Hlatshwayo said the lack of reliable electricity has left residents dependent on potentially dangerous alternatives. “We rely on things that are not safe to keep ourselves warm,” she said.

Hlatshwayo said some residents resort to illegal electricity connections but these are unreliable. “Even when we connect illegally, the electricity comes and goes. We cannot afford paraffin or gas because they are expensive, and most of us are not working,” she said.

Despite knowing the dangers associated with braziers, residents continue to use them because they have no other way of surviving the cold, she said.

In Etwatwa, resident Maureen Baloyi said families rely on coal stoves, braziers and outdoor fires as temperatures drop. “Though it is dangerous, some of us sleep with the imbawula because it is extremely cold at night,” she said.

Residents try to stay awake and monitor the fires before removing the braziers once the flames die, said Baloyi.

The risk of fires remains fresh in the minds of residents after a deadly shack fire in November last year claimed the lives of a family, she added.

“There have been more recent incidents involving children dying from smoke inhalation and shack fires, though none had reached the scale of the tragedy that claimed the family of five.”

For residents living in informal settlements, the cold front is not only about enduring low temperatures. It is also about balancing the need for warmth with the risks posed by fires, smoke and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Sowetan