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Unattended stove identified as cause of Fairview fire

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The City of Johannesburg Emergency Services says an unattended stove has been identified as the cause of a fire that burned down more than 60 shacks in Fairview, Johannesburg on Sunday morning.

Disaster management teams are now assisting over 80 people with temporary housing until a permanent solution is found.

EMS spokesperson, Nana Radebe-Kgiba, says no casualties have been reported.

“Fortunately, the people managed to evacuate when the fire started. It is suspected that a stove was left unattended and the person went out and left the stove unattended and that’s what had caused the fire. We also know that there were kids that were there but they were all accounted for, fortunately,” she says.

Over 16 000 traffic fines issued: RTMC

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The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) says it has issued over 16,000 traffic fines thus far for speeding and failing to wear seat belts. RTMC says it expects a massive amount of vehicles on the roads today as travellers make their way back to their respective provinces.

RTMC Spokesperson, Simon Zwane, says, “Of concern though, is the number of people who are producing false documents when stopped and those who are driving without driving licenses. There have been a number of arrests made and our officers are out looking for such incidents that compromise the safety of others on the roads.”

Zwane says RTMC will continue its road safety operations until after the elections in May.

“We are not going to completely disengage after these holidays. We know that there is Freedom Day coming end of April, Workers Day, right up to Election Day. So we’ll continue to keep vigilance on the roads until all of those holidays have come to an end. And then we will continue with our normal work.”

Easter Weekend | Road traffic update: Simon Zwane

Hundreds displaced following CT fires

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Nearly 800 people have been left homeless after four separate shack fires ripped through hundreds of informal structures in various areas of Cape Town this weekend.

Two of the fires occurred at the Joe Slovo informal settlement, in Langa while another fire occurred in Mfuleni and the fourth fire was reported in Du Noon.

Four separate fires destroyed more than 300 structures in total.

The residents of Joe Slovo, in Langa, are picking up the pieces and working hard to rebuild their homes. They were among the affected residents when one of the shack fires in Langa, ripped through the area and destroyed dozens of informal structures. Many of them have lost all of their belongings and have nowhere to go.

An affected resident, Masande Benya says, “What is happening here is not alright, but what we ask from the government is to help us with material, because we have to vote but we lost everything as you see I am busy now, but we don’t have anything.”

Another resident, Phindiwe Siduna, says, “I stay here in Joe Slovo. I’m one of the victims. The fire started around. I just received a call, someone said that the house is burning and then I ran because I’m one of the people who are staying here. We are not feeling okay, because we don’t know the reason of the fire. We lost a lot of things, clothes some people managed to take some things out but some of the people they come and steal from us. You take out the things and some of the people they as if they came to help us, but they steal everything.”

Humanitarian aid organisation, Gift of the Givers, is providing disaster relief, to residents who were affected by the various fires.

The City of Cape Town says its Informal Settlements Management Department and the National Human Settlements Department are actively engaging with the affected communities, to discuss plans for rebuilding.