A fire in Kosovo informal settlement in Philippi on Tuesday destroyed the possessions of dozens of families, including school uniforms.
Three brothers in Philippi, Cape Town, were among many children who missed the first day of the school term because their school uniforms were destroyed in a fire which ravaged Kosovo informal settlement on Tuesday.
The fire – the second in less than a month – left more than 100 shacks destroyed and about 500 people displaced, according to residents.
A few people managed to save their personal belongings but those who were at work when the fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon lost everything.
Anele, Anathi and Oluhle Vimba were among those who lost their school uniforms. “I don’t know how my children will start the school year with nothing. I had their school uniforms and stationery prepared and now this,” said the boys’ mother Nosakhe Vimba.
Vimba said she had lost everything except the clothes she was wearing.
She was not at home when the fire started. She was alerted by a neighbour and when she got home her shack was in ashes.
Vimba said she would not be able to buy new uniforms for her sons until the end of the month. For the moment, she said, she was focused on rebuilding her shack and putting a roof over the family’s heads.
Other families GroundUp spoke to also said they desperately needed school uniforms and stationery for children.
Families scrambled to save their belongings.
On 22 December last year a fire left over 100 people homeless in the same area. Vimba said shack fires were frequent and she pleaded for better housing.
Resident Mthetheleli Sibango said by the time the emergency services arrived, the fire had already intensified and there was no chance to save anything.
“Suddenly there were strong winds which caused the fire to spread faster. People watched as their homes went down in flames.”
Sibango said the firefighters had struggled to access the alleys of the informal settlement.
Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Fire Service, said an emergency call had been received at 1:20pm and 30 firefighters had been deployed. The fire had been put out just before 6pm, he said. “No injuries or fatalities were reported and the cause of the fire is unknown.”
Carelse said the Fire and Rescue Service could not comment on claims that the firefighters couldn’t immediately get through the alleys.
The City of Cape Town’s Fire Service deployed 30 firefighters.
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moon radar
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”
Dark Burn
Padkos – food for the journey [putt-koss] Food that you will pack and take on the road – some sandwiches, drinks, chips, fruit and biltong and you have your padkos!