Fires continue to engulf, shacks in South Africa the latest incident was in Kliptwon SouthWest of Johannesburg where it was alleged by neighbors that a drunken stupor caused the fire that left an elderly man dead and scores of people homeless. The incident happened on the 10 October 2022. 70 families had to watch in despair as their hope and belongings burnt down to the ground.

Councilor Dweyne Ponsonby praised the speed in which the project developed, where shacks are burnt in Kliptown and the following week people have a place to stay. The homeless residents found shelter in a community center in Kliptown less than 100 meters away from the burnt houses.

The community center has no electricity, no water and no toilets, creating an environmental hazard for the destitute families. The councilor and stakeholders didn’t follow proper procedure by consulting with the residents of Kliprivieroog.

One of the community leader of Kliprivieroog said “that they were surprised when they saw construction company clearing the open space to erect shacks temporally to move the families that lost their livelihoods to the fire, the leader continues to site that they are not against people moving next to their bond houses, however they are against the lack of consultation from the councilor and the stakeholder.

Another concern that came from the residence of Kliprivieroog, is how long these families will stay in the temporal structures, because Kliptown has a pattern to move people to temporal structure and find themselves living in those temporal structures for more than 5 years. The councilor responded
saying that Kliptown finally received an approved 92 million, which will assist in building houses for Kliptown residence. The handing over of shacks will take place in Kliptown at 12 in the afternoon. Dwayne said that South African residence will be the one receiving the erected temporal shacks.