KHAYELITSHA – A devastating shack fire in the Taiwan informal settlement on Sunday evening, 20 October 2024, has left over 90 residents displaced and sparked allegations of arson. The blaze, which erupted around 6pm, rapidly consumed more than 40 structures, leaving a trail of destruction and despair in its wake.
Fire and Rescue Services spokesman, Jermaine Carelse, confirmed the incident.
"The Fire and Rescue Service received the emergency call at 6.35pm about structures burning in Taiwan informal settlement, Khayelitsha, on Sunday, 20 October 2024," he stated.
"A total of 11 firefighting resources attended the scene from several fire stations with more than 50 firefighters to contain the blaze. Just after 9pm, the fire was extinguished, and initial estimates are that a total of more than 40 informal structures were destroyed, leaving 90 people displaced. No injuries were reported, and the cause is yet to be determined,” Carelse added.
However, Sanelisiwe Noginqa (37), a resident whose home was among those destroyed, believes the fire was deliberately set. She alleges that a neighbour with a penchant for sexual harassment and a grudge to settle, with whom she had a heated argument earlier that day, is responsible.
The argument stemmed from the neighbour's persistent harassment of Sanelisiwe's daughter. According to Noginqa, the man had been harassing her daughter, making inappropriate advances and promising her gifts in exchange for visits to his shack, supposedly for hot tlof tlof.
"When he sees her, he always says she must come to his shack so that he can give her something nice," Sanelisiwe explained.
"My daughter has always refused, and she told me about the matter, and I confronted him about it. On Sunday, my mother saw him peeping through the window of our shack, and she told me. I went outside and caught him red-handed," she recounted.
Sanelisiwe described confronting the neighbour, resulting in a physical altercation. "I then gave him hot slaps, and he walked away to his place, but he allegedly threatened Sanelisiwe by saying, 'I will show you who is the boss'," she said.
She left to visit a friend's house but received a frantic call informing her that her shack was ablaze.
"I knew it was him. I don’t cook from my house, the electricity was off at the time, so there's no way that there could be a fire. It's him who had threatened me earlier,” she asserted.
Neighbour Gcobisa Bishop, whose shack was close to Sanelisiwe's, expressed relief that the fire occurred while residents were awake.
"It could have been worse; at least the fire happened while people were still awake,” she commented, highlighting the potential for greater tragedy had the fire broken out during the night.
Ward 87 Councillor Khayelethu Kama is working with the City of Cape Town’s Department of Disaster Management to provide assistance to the displaced residents.
