WATCH | No rebuilding as Msunduzi clears devastated Jika Joe site

Msunduzi Municipality will move heavy machinery into Jika Joe on Monday to clear the area destroyed by Saturday’s devastating fire, while working with humanitarian organisations to assist hundreds of residents left without homes, food, clothing and necessities. The City has warned residents not to rebuild shacks on the burnt site, saying the immediate priority is to assist displaced families while preventing people from returning to conditions that place lives at risk. An estimated 700 structures were destroyed as fire swept through the densely populated settlement on Saturday, leaving hundreds of residents displaced and many with virtually nothing.

Deputy Mayor Mxolisi Mkhize said municipal Disaster Management teams had been working since Sunday morning to identify affected families and establish what assistance they needed. People have been left with absolutely nothing. Our disaster management teams have been up since this morning profiling the families who have been affected.

Mkhize said the municipality was working with humanitarian organisations to mobilise food, clothing and other essentials for residents who had lost their possessions. At the same time, the City has told residents not to begin reconstructing their homes because machinery will be brought onto the site to clear the fire-damaged section. “We have encouraged the people not to restructure their shacks again because tomorrow the municipality will come and clear the space,” Mkhize said.

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Mkhize appealed to residents who could stay temporarily with family members to do so while the municipality considers its next steps and works to aid those displaced. We are pleading with the victims that, for now, they should seek temporary shelter with their relatives because going back and rebuilding the shacks is really a catastrophe.

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