Five children including one-year-old twins died in a shack fire on Saturday at Shaka's Head in KwaDukuza and thee people died in a fire in Umdoni Municipality on the KZN South Coast.
Image: KZN Cogta / Facebook
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, on Monday visited a KwaDukuza family who are grieving the loss of five children, including one-year-old twins in a devastating shack fire at the weekend.
Shack dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo described the loss of the children as “devastation beyond words”.
In a statement, the movement said the fire broke out at around 3am on Saturday. Community members tried to stop the blaze and rescue the children but were unable to do so. “The fire was too strong,” the organisation stated.
The children have been identified as Asamkele Somntsewu, 19, Sonwabise Noyila,14, Amila Menemene, 3 and one-year-old twins Sokhula and Solulele Somntsewu.
According to the KZN Department of Human Settlements, the children’s mother, Ntombovuyo Menemene, and two-year-old child, Yana Menemene were taken to hospital while father, Sivuyile Noyila, sustained minor injuries.
KZN Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma said: “We wish to express our deepest condolences to the surviving family members,” Duma said.
He added that he was liaising with KwaDukuza Local Municipality mayor Sduduzo Gumede following the incident to provide support to the family.
During his visit to the family, Cogta MEC Buthelezi conveyed condolences on behalf of the provincial government and directed practical support including provincial burial assistance.
The Cogta department added that Buthelezi had directed the installation of life saving smoke detectors as part of targeted early warning interventions.
He also directed officials to fast track coordinated action with the KwaDukuza Local Municipality and relevant departments to address basic service challenges raised by the community, including access to water and other risk factors that heighten vulnerability to fires.
Buthelezi also visited families in Umdoni Local Municipality on the KZN South Coast where a fire claimed three lives - Sanele Cibane, 37, Lungelo Cibane, 30, and Zamokuhle Dlamini, 33.
Extending condolences to the Cibane and Dlamini families, the MEC directed a Cogta disaster management team to provide structured assistance without delay.
“The pain these families are enduring is immeasurable. As the Provincial Government, we will not only comfort—we will act,” said MEC Buthelezi.
“We are providing burial support and logistical assistance now, while strengthening preventative measures. Our message to communities is that government cares and will be present—from the immediate response to the long term solutions that keep families safe,” he said.
Abahlali said the deaths formed part of what it described as a long-standing crisis of shack fires in informal settlements. “For twenty years we have been struggling to get the crisis of the regular fires in shack settlements across the country recognised as a crisis,” the movement said.
The organisation thanked Gift of the Givers for supporting the family, as well as its comrades in the Durban Coalition.
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