Walls and furniture covered in soot, broken windows shut with cardboard boxes and a damaged ceiling with no electricity is how an Ocean View family has been living since a fire gutted their home on Sunday 2 April.
Rhona de Stadler said she and her family have been waiting for the electricity to be restored and the windows and ceiling fixed but to no avail.
“I have two kids, eight and 15 years old, and we have no other choice but to live in the house, although it isn’t livable.”
De Stadler said she could not leave her home as there were belongings that could be stolen.
“My roof and ceiling are out. My children are sleeping on the floor in the cold. It is raining because the windows are all gone.
“We are all sick and coughing. I can’t live like this.”
She said they had been borrowing electricity and a stove from neighbours to cook, which is simply not fair to the neighbours as electricity is costly.
“I cook on a stove I borrowed from my neighbour and then at night I return the plug, then we are left in the dark at night.”
The mother of two claimed she reached out for assistance to the local councillor but was still living in the dark.
“The fire started just after load shedding in the small room because the plug was faulty.
“The whole week before the fire, the plug gave problems. Whenever I wanted to switch on the light, it went on and off.”
The unemployed mother said she was not home on the day of the fire.
“My son was in the house; they were playing games in the front room, but the door to the small room was closed. They didn’t know there was a fire inside. When they smelled the smok, they couldn’t open the door, so they had to kick it open and the flames came out.
“The fire just went through the whole house and the fire department came.
“None of the councillors were here to see the damage. The place is not livable, but I can’t leave my house because there are still electrical appliances that people can break in and steal, so we have to live in the house.
“When it rains, it rains into the house because it is not secure. My daughter was sick with an infected throat and chest, but there is nothing I can do.
“I can’t live in this situation anymore.”
According to Ward 61 councillor Simon Liell-Cock, the City’s insurance may well not respond quickly enough, which he says occurs often.
“We deal with this all the time and it takes time for the City’s insurance to sort it all out. We have a list of these, she is not the only one.”
He added it would normally be for the homeowner to sort out, but as there has been a delay in handing title deeds over, it becomes the City’s issue to deal with.
“The problem is also they did not receive their title deeds. It is usually the norm for the homeowner to deal with, but because of a land usage issue that has been stuck at the deeds office they have not received their title deeds, so the City has to fix the problem.”
