Woman loses everything in Salvokop shack fire
Sarah Sibanda, who works as a domestic worker in the eastern part of Pretoria, says she learnt about the fire when she was at work.
A 34-year-old woman lost almost everything when a fire broke out in her shack in Salvokop in the central part of Pretoria on Wednesday.
“All my valuables have been destroyed and I still cannot believe that I no longer have a roof over my head, clothes, blankets and food,” Sarah Sibanda told Rekord.
Sibanda, who works as a domestic worker in the eastern part of Pretoria, said she learnt about the fire when she was at work.
She sleeps in at her workplace from Mondays to Thursdays and returns to her shack every Friday.
She said she was extremely heartbroken and in a state of confusion as she did not know where to sleep when she was not at work.
“I do not know the cause of the fire that destroyed all my clothes and that of my 9-year-old child,” she said in tears.
She said the only clothes she was left with were those she was still wearing.
According to an eyewitness Buhle Mabuya, who is also Sibanda’s neighbour, the cause of the fire was unknown.
“The children told me that my neighbour’s shack was on fire and when I went to check, I realised that our complex was full of smoke.”
Mabuya said she went to Sibanda’s shack and opened the door but he was unable to get inside as the flames were too big.
Residents in the area were notified and quickly arrived at the scene to extinguish the flames, she said.
“The residents’ efforts limited the extensive damage to only one shack as two others on the left and the right sustained minimal damages.
This is the second fire to take place in Salvokop in less than three months.
In late October last year, families living in a building engulfed in flames near Statistics South Africa’s head office in Salvokop lost almost everything.
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