Two people lost their lives when a fire engulfed informal structures in SST Section, Town Two in Khayelitsha, during the early hours of Sunday.
The City’s fire and rescue spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said their team received a call at about 00:40am.
Carelse said fire crews from Khayelitsha, Lansdowne, Macassar and Bellville attended to the scene with several fire-fighting appliances.
“Just after 02:00am, firefighters managed to contain and extinguish the blaze that destroyed seven informal structures and left an estimate of 25 persons displaced.
“Two persons succumbed to fatal burn wounds – the bodies were discovered among the debris at 01:40am.
“The cause of the fire is unknown and the scene was handed over to the SAPS,” he said.
The Khayelitsha Development Forum’s (KDF) chairperson, Ndithini Tyhido, said more than 300 shacks were gutted by a fire at the same location previously.
“These deaths could have been avoided had the City of Cape Town had interest for saving black lives,” he said.
“This is the exact spot which the Silver Town Emergency Housing project was conceived by the then minister for human settlements Nomaindia Mfeketo, MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela and the then MMC Thandeka Gqada, until today this emergency housing project has not materialised,” Tyhido added.
Police did not respond by the time of publishing on Monday.
Cape Times