{"id":52100,"date":"2026-03-09T03:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T03:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=52100"},"modified":"2026-03-09T03:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T03:04:11","slug":"fires-ravage-imizamo-yethu-masiphumelele-settlements-hundreds-homeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/09\/fires-ravage-imizamo-yethu-masiphumelele-settlements-hundreds-homeless\/","title":{"rendered":"Fires ravage Imizamo Yethu and Masiphumelele settlements, hundreds homeless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>The cause of the fires are unknown. <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>At least 160 informal structures were destroyed by separate fires in the Western Cape, leaving hundreds of people affected.<\/p>\n<p>The devastating fires occurred at the Imizamo Yethu and Masiphumelele informal settlements on Saturday and early Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-masiphumelele-fire\">Masiphumelele fire<\/h2>\n<p>City Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Frank Forbay said no injuries were reported, though the cause of the fire remains unknown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt approximately 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, the City of Cape Town\u2019s Fire and Rescue Services were alerted to a blaze in Masiphumelele. A team of 31 firefighters, supported by five fire engines and three water tankers, was dispatched to the scene to combat the flames.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fire spread into the reeds next to the informal settlement, but by 05:30 the fire was contained,\u201d Forbay said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: Soweto residents attack new fire engine and firefighters<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-assessment\">Assessment<\/h3>\n<p>City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management (DRM) spokesperson Sonia Lategan said they concluded the assessment in the WZ Section in Masiphumelele, although registration of affected persons is ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe preliminary indications are that approximately 80 structures were damaged and about 203 people affected. Services on site include DRM, Informal Settlements Management, the Electricity Department, and the SPCA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDRM will also request assistance from SASSA, Solid Waste, Home Affairs and the Department of Social Development. Electrical poles and boxes were damaged,\u201d Lategan said.<\/p>\n<p>Humanitarian relief organisations, \u00a0Living Hope, provided hygiene packs, and Gift of the Givers provided hot meals to the affected residents of the informal settlement.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-imizamo-yethu-fire\">Imizamo Yethu fire<\/h3>\n<p>The fire at Masiphumelele followed a major fire in Imizamo Yethu on Saturday afternoon, where about 60 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze.<\/p>\n<p>The operation proved difficult as crews battled strong winds and faced interference from some community members, which prompted incident commanders to call for assistance from law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these challenges, the blaze was eventually brought under control at about 6pm.<\/p>\n<p>No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire is unknown.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: Tshwane fire toll at 7 as shack fire kills child<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Fires #ravage #Imizamo #Yethu #Masiphumelele #settlements #hundreds #homeless<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cause of the fires are unknown. At least 160 informal structures were destroyed by separate fires in the Western&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52102,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52100\/revisions\/52102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}