The Bitou Municipality has filed an urgent application for disaster funding to the national Department of Human Settlements after 25 informal structures burned down on Sunday night.
Twenty-five structures burnt down at the Qolweni informal settlement leaving an elderly person dead and a further 74 people, including 31 children, homeless.
According to a statement from the Municipality on Tuesday, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Bitou Communication & Customer Care Manager, Manfred Van Rooyen, said the fire started at 9 pm on Sunday night.
He said that the fire department responded immediately to the call which prevented more structures from burning down.
Van Rooyen added that the ward councillor assisted by the Mayoral Committee Councillor were on the ground at the community centre assisting affected families since Sunday.
"Bitou municipality is coordinating the relief efforts through its disaster management official, the community liaison officer and the community development worker. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), along with Bitou Municipality has started to distribute blankets, mattresses and food parcels to the affected victims," Van Rooyen said.
Van Rooyen said the application for disaster funding was done in the context of a total of 72 informal dwelling that burned down between April and May 2018, in various settlements.
"The housing section Bitou has indicated that the currently face an almost R600 thousand backlog in funding to assist affected fire victims with building materials. This backlog will hopefully be addressed if the disaster funding application is approved by the national department of Human Settlements," he said.
Bitou Executive Mayor, Msimboti Lobese, offered his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and committed to facilitating with the Department of Home Affairs to assist the victims to obtain lost identity documents and birth certificates on an expedited basis.
The name of the deceased will be released once the next of kin have been informed.
Bitou Municipality and Eskom will determine the extent of the damage to electrical and other municipal infrastructure.
Van Rooyen said the damaged infrastructure would be replaced when funding becomes available.
Meanwhile, two families in Great Brak River were left homeless following a fire at their informal homes in Wolwedans on Tuesday morning.
Mossel Bay fire and rescue extinguished the flames and they have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.
(Photo: Image of Great Brak River fire and not Plett)
