Poor Joburg council response to devastating Mangolongolo shack fire

15 May 2016

I am disappointed at the poor response of the Johannesburg Council to the devastating fire that destroyed about 200 shacks on Friday morning at the Mangolongolo informal settlement in Denver in east Johannesburg.

I visited Mangolongolo this morning with DA Councillor Victor Penning and DA Ward 65 candidate Michael Mutiya, and we found that residents were not being provided with any building materials to rebuild their shacks. 

This is their prime need, but the Council does not have a programme to provide building materials in good time, as happens in Cape Town where an emergency housing kit is provided within hours of a shack fire.

Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) has recorded 651 victims in need of assistance, including 134 children. They are providing blankets and some food, but people we spoke with said they only got bread and a small bit of soup.

More preventive measures need to be taken as fires have occurred frequently at Mangolongolo, including the following:

September 2010 – more than 250 shacks burnt in two separate fires, with four deaths;

April 2014 – 44 shacks burnt;

November 2014 – 50 shacks burnt;

July 2015 - 60 shacks burnt; and 

September 2015 - 169 shacks burnt.

The shacks are spaced too closely together and there is no readily available water to fight a fire.

The council has been slow to respond to a DA petition signed by more than 200 Mangolongolo residents asking for the formalization and upgrading of the settlement, including electrification and adequate water and sanitation.

Many of the houses are built of brick and the area can be upgraded if the Transnet-owned land is transferred by title deed to local residents.

The council should also speedily fulfill its recent promise to put electricity in all informal settlements.

The DA will continue to pressure the Council to upgrade Mangolongolo and take effective measures to prevent any more fires there.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Constituency Head for Joburg East, 15 May 2016