Alex residents turn their shacks into houses
ALEXANDRA – When news of the fire broke out, Alex CPF chairperson Chris Mabunda and ward resident Nkele Galedzana sprang into action to source relief for the residents.
Shack dwellers, who resided on the corner of 4th Avenue and Josias Madzunya Street and victims of a devastating fire on July 10, will now live in brick-and-mortar houses.
A victim of the blaze, Nosamkelo Jack, is the coordinator of the project to build the houses with the help of former Ward 75 councillor and now chairperson of Alex CPF, Chris Mabunda, and community leader Nkele Galedzana.
Jack said she decided to rebuild her house of bricks and mortar because ‘it does not burn that easily and fast like a shack’.
“When help finally came, they found me already with walls of bricks already standing and Galedzana then decided to follow suit and provided all the residents with bricks to build houses instead,” Jack said.
For the bricks, Galedzana was assisted by the Alex and Sandton CPFs and a newly formed Sandton-based organisation, Home Building, which seeks to help with home building where there is a need.
The fire broke out during the day on July 10 at about 14:00 after the electricity of the ward was interrupted earlier.
Jack said when the power was restored, an electricity box in one of the shacks burst into flames and several of them caught fire.
She said no one was injured as a result of the fire, but the residents lost everything and only remained with the clothes they were wearing.
EMS and NGO Rays of Hope and Sandton residents, along with a community drive in the township, provided valuable aid for the residents in the form of clothes, blankets, sponge bedding, food and other items.
