Business owners in Harding were forced to watch their livelihoods go up in flames when a fire broke out in the town in the early hours of Tuesday morning this week.
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The devastated business owners reportedly lost millions as a result of the blaze.
And to add fuel to the fire, according to the business owners, not only did Umuziwabantu Municipality firefighters fail to arrive in time to effectively fight the flames, they also arrived in a single van, and alleged that the driver appeared to be intoxicated.
Five shops, including a funeral parlour and a motor spares outlet, are believed to have burnt to the ground.
“Had it not been for the farmers who assisted in extinguishing the fire, more businesses would have been destroyed,” said one business owner.
When the blaze first broke out, the shop owners say they tried in vain to get help from the municipality.
Requests for assistance, they say, included asking for Ugu water tankers to be sent to the scene.
In a last ditch effort to control the damage, Ugu District Municipality’s disaster management team was sent from Port Shepstone to Harding.
The businessmen added that this was not the first time the municipality’s fire department had failed to extinguish a fire on its own, with firefighters allegedly admitting the department did not have sufficient resources.
In July last year, a fire truck was apparently written off after it crashed into an electrical pole, and has not been replaced.
It is believed that the municipality recently purchased two Landcruisers which have not yet been fitted out with the proper equipment.
The businessmen pointed out that the money paid for the two Landcruisers could have been used to buy a proper fire truck with the capacity to deal with fires of this magnitude.
“I am heartbroken, no words can explain how I feel right now. I stood there and watched my whole life burn down,” said the owner of the motor spares shop destroyed in the blaze.
Umuziwabantu Municipality Mayor, Dixie Nciki dismissed claims that the driver of the fire van was drunk, adding that accusing someone of being drunk with no proof was a serious offence.
The mayor directed all queries to community services manager, West Gumede.
Mr Gumede said it was no secret that the municipality had a small budget and could therefore not afford all the resources it required.
“We tried to assist where we could. Our standby firefighting team responded with the resources at their disposal.”
Mr Gumede said the additional trucks that assisted belonged to the company which runs several municipal farms, thereby dismissing claims that the department had done nothing at all.
Umuziwabantu Municipality spokesman, Nkosi Zwane confirmed that the municipality only had one van available to respond to fires after the municipality’s fire truck crashed last year.
She also confirmed the purchase of the two Landcruisers which, she said, were in the process of being fitted out with firefighting equipment.
“The shop owners are expected to have insurance, and their insurance companies can conduct assessments on the level of damage caused by the fire.
“The disaster management team did however visit the scene in order to conduct an assessment of the damage and to determine the cause of the fire.”
The municipality said it would investigate the allegations that the driver of the van was drunk.
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