More than 1 100 building kits will be given to people who lost their homes in a devastating fire in Masiphumelele, the City of Cape Town said on Saturday.
“The building kit consists of, among others, a door, hinges and lockset, a window, nails and poles, and corrugated steel sheets,” Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements Benedicta van Minnen said in a statement.
“Over the past week, various City departments have been working non-stop to clear the debris and to prepare the site.”
A total of 1 123 structures burnt to the ground early last Sunday morning when a blaze ripped through the township near Noordhoek, leaving more than 4 000 people displaced.
Van Minnen said the city’s solid waste management department cleared the debris and sand was transported to the site to complete earthworks.
The electricity services department had also started working on re-installing the electricity infrastructure damaged by the fire.
“The prepared site has been divided into large blocks so that the City’s human settlements directorate can do partial, above-ground re-blocking which is a way to group structures to ease basic services and emergency access. Firebreaks have also been installed,” she said.
“This partially re-blocked layout will now require affected households to construct their structures in demarcated blocks.”
Van Minnen said the community had worked with the City in order to get the site ready in the shortest time.
“We urge the community to continue to work with us to ensure that the distribution of the kits is completed as a matter of urgency.”