Cape Town - A Khayelitsha grandmother of 12 has been left distraught after a fire that broke out in their shack in the M section at Endlovini informal settlement claimed the lives of three of the children.
A fourth child is fighting for her life at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.
Inako Mbema, 13, Qamisa Mbema, 8, Akhanyile Magamle, 4, and Enzokuhle Magamle, 6, were four of the 16 people sleeping in the shack when the fire, the cause of which remains unknown, broke out in the early hours of on Wednesday.
Nopasika Mbema, 56, said her two daughters, a son-in-law, and 12 grandkids were inside. Four adults and eight children between the ages of 2 to 15 survived.
Nopasika, who is the biological grandmother of the two Mbema grandchildren and a foster grandmother to the Magamles, said before they fell asleep they lit candles as they had run out of electricity. She said she ensured all the candles were extinguished.
“I do not know what caused the fire. We did not have electricity on Tuesday, so I lit candles so we would be able to eat. Before we all went to sleep I made sure to put the candles out. The fire was so fast that it didn’t afford us a chance to save our belongings,” she said.
She could not remember how she exited the shack, which she said was already engulfed in flames.
Numerous shack fires were reported in the city in the past four days, including a fire in Joe Slovo, Langa that killed three adults on Sunday and in Bonteheuwel on Monday where 15 informal structures and three houses were destroyed, displacing 45 people.
City Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said fire services were alerted just after midnight.
Carelse said crews from Lansdowne, Mfuleni, Khayelitsha and Strand were dispatched to the scene, where the bodies of the two boys and a girl, who had sustained fatal burn wounds were found amidst the debris at around 1am.
“The fire was extinguished at about 1:20am,” he said.
Ward councillor Lonwabo Mqina said this month alone the area had seen four isolated shack fire incidences, in which one adult died. He said the latest victim was the fifth in this period.
While Mqina would not speculate on what usually caused shacks fires and said in most cases the causes were unknown.
“We do not know whether people do not want to take responsibility for these incidents or because they occur late at night or in the early hours when they are asleep. However, this is concerning,” he said.
Mqina said the family would need all the help they could get, as none of them was employed. Assistance can be rendered through building materials, funeral arrangements, or clothes for the surviving eight children and five adults.
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said Lingelethu West police had opened an inquest docket.