The family of a woman killed in a fire that also razed the family home received a helping hand last week from Makana Municipality's Disaster Management Unit.
The family of a woman killed in a fire that also razed the family home received a helping hand last week from Makana Municipality's Disaster Management Unit.
Unit manager Khuselo Qupe handed over the two-roomed prefabricated house to the family on Tuesday 18 August.
Phindile Vulindlu said he was lost for words.
The family house in W Street, Tantyi, burnt down in the early hours of Monday 6 July, killing 29-year-old Buyiswa Vulindlu.
The fire department was unable to save the house from the blaze.
Vulindlu says the house was already in a terrible state when it caught fire and burnt down.
He said he and his family were lost without a proper home and didn’t know what to do, with no family members employed.
He and his sister Bulelwa Vulindlu say they are relieved to have somewhere for their disabled father to come home to.
An amputee, he is in hospital being treated for diabetes. Vulindlu says they have suffered enough as a family.
He expressed his gratitude to the Makana Disaster Management Unit for the upliftment they have brought in his family.
“We are grateful as a family that our father will return from hospital to a new house. It has been difficult living.
None of us are working, this suffering we have endured will ease a little bit,” said Vulindlu.
With none of the family members employed, they are likely to qualify for free electricity.
The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) regional chairperson Bongile Singata, who was at the handover, praised the municipality's disaster management unit for its responsiveness.
He said Sanco had spoken to the Department of Human Settlements about the family's plight and they had responded within less than two weeks.
"There are 161 houses for the destitute still to be built," said Singata.
