A huge fire blazed the Bushbuckridge informal settlement in Centurion in the early hours of this morning.

Ward 57 councillor David Farquharson told Pretoria Rekord he was aware of the incident, and was in constant communication with the Tshwane emergency services.

“No casualties have been reported so far. I’m in communication with emergency services. The fire started around 02:30. I don’t have details of how it started. I suspect either a cooking fire or the burning of stolen cables,” Farquharson explained.

He revealed that a gas cylinder explosion had made the situation worse. Residents nearby confirmed that they heard the explosion and dogs were ‘running wild with fear’.

The Bushbuckridge informal settlement fire comes days after the Itireleng fire that resulted in the death of five children who were locked inside a shack.

The councillor said this mushrooming of fires is a clear indication that law enforcement agencies needed to clamp down on all illegal occupations whether land or buildings.

“We have also just had a terrible fire in the hijacked building in Johannesburg and a smaller fire in Itireleng, where five children died. Unless the rule of law is enforced these tragedies are going to continue.”

Furthermore, the councillor put the blame squarely on the doorstep of various NGOs he said were a stumbling block to institutions of government dealing with illegal occupations and hazardous living conditions.

“In my opinion, the various lawyers who have blocked legal evictions have created these dangerous situations,” he added.

Farquharson’s comments follow a statement by Johannesburg council speaker Colleen Makhubele blaming certain NGOs for making it difficult for metro’s to tackle ‘unsafe, hijacked buildings’ by preventing evictions.