More than 100 Lavender Hill residents were left without electricity after a fire tore through an apartment block at Keppel Court on Monday 30 January.
Apostle Dorothy Soetwater, a community leader, said it was unacceptable for families – which included children and the elderly – to sit in the dark for so many days.
Not having electricity also posed a safety risk with broken windows an invitation to criminals, she added.
“Yesterday morning, after 03:00, the fire started from this side of the building. There was a Somalian shop, a really good guy with a good heart and his shop completely burnt to the ground.”
The shop, two bungalows and a car were completely destroyed in the fire leaving four families with no belongings.
“Everything burned to the ground and nothing was saved. Luckily, people woke up in time because of the smoke. Some of the young people even stayed out of work to help others.”
Soetwater claims attemps to have the electricity connected again were futile, which left about 100 people living at Keppel court vulnerable.
“A young woman living with children was left with nothing because the fire destroyed everything. They did not even have shelter for last night to sleep and our councillor did not care about it.
“We have been reaching out to people for help. Some people readily responded by bringing clothes for the kids and food but we are without electricity. We are more than 100 people living in this court, this whole block and up until now they can’t help us.”
According to Soetwater, the electricity was eventually turned back on after more than three days.
Bronwynne Serfontein lost her vehicle in the fire and her daughter, who lived in a wendy house, lost everything.
“My daughter, who was living here with her three-year-old and four-year-old, said she looked through the windows and just saw flames and smoke.
“She couldn’t get out, so she was screaming and shouting loud and then my son, who sleeps in the front house, went to see what was happening.
“He opened the door of the wendy house and my daughter got such a fright from the fire that she just picked up her sleeping children and threw them out.
Bernadette Volkers, a resident, said she was grateful to emergency workers for stopping the flames before they could reach all the homes. She added that having electricity is the most important thing for them.
“We can’t see here at night in the dark and there have already been guys in the yard who already broke in because there is no electricity.”
Ward 110 councillor Shanen Rossouw said the City was on site Monday 30 January working on restoring the electricity.
“There is a process to follow after a fire. I was on site almost every day since Monday and the City was there to assess the damage. It took three days to restore the electricity which is very quick because usually it can take up to a month after a fire. I would like to thank the city for their swift response,” she says.
