The fire ripped through homes. Buildings are in ashes. Many residents lost most of their belongings, including food for the month.
This is not in Cape Town. This is the aftermath of a blaze, also on Sunday, that swept through Marikana informal settlement in Cato Crest in Durban. Mother of two Nomasamson Dlamini, 38, died, and 16-year-old Cebo Mpiliso was critically injured, while 45 families were left homeless.
As offers for help to the University of Cape Town (UCT) – which suffered immeasurable losses in the Table Mountain fire at the weekend – streamed in, shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo was a lone voice out of Durban. “Their homes have become ashes. They do not have materials to rebuild their homes. Winter is upon us ...” It appealed for assistance to the families left destitute. “Many of the people who are affected are women. We will need food, clothing and building materials.”
There is no word on free counselling to the two children who lost their mother in the blaze.
In Johannesburg, Charlotte Maxeke Hospital has been closed for a week and hundreds of patients evacuated to other hospitals after a fire broke out last Saturday. Gauteng premier David Makhura warned: “We cannot afford to have Charlotte Maxeke closed for too long. With regards to the treatment of Covid-19 patients, this is one of our eminent facilities, this is one of our top-class hospitals in the treatment of Covid-19.”
Back to Cape Town. The fire that started on the slopes of Table Mountain was devastating. It left several firefighters injured, forced the evacuation of student residences at UCT and severely damaged several historic buildings, including the Mostert’s Mill, the only restored working windmill in the country, the university’s Fuller Hall, the Tea Room next to Rhodes Memorial and, perhaps worst of all, the UCT library, home to many old books, an African studies collection, precious documents and film material.
Companies, organisations and private individuals rallied together to reach out to students in need of accommodation and food, Uber offered free rides to students who needed transport to be evacuated from campus, and Burger King offered free meals. A trauma clinic offered free counselling to students.
That is how it should be.
But no free taxi rides have been offered to those displaced in the Durban informal settlement fire, nor have fast food outlets offered free meals to them. There is no word on free counselling for the two children who lost their mother in the blaze.
We have not heard of rallying about those affected by the weeklong suspension of services at one of Johannesburg’s biggest state hospitals after it was engulfed by flames at the weekend.
That is not how it should be.
Cape Town is a cautionary tale of help that needs to be extended to all in need. Valuable books and papers were lost or damaged at UCT, and historic buildings were gutted. How does that compare with shack dwellers who lost everything – including their food for the month – in a fire? One fire victim should not be more equal than another.
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