Matjhabeng is burning, people are dying, hundreds of millions of rands are going up in flames, and the Matjhabeng Fire Department is missing in action.
On Tuesday (09/08), two major fires broke out in Matjhabeng. One destroyed the Mimosa Recreation Centre in Odendaalsrus, and during the one in Welkom’s industrial area, one fuel tanker exploded and three others were destroyed in the fire. The adjacent property was severely damaged. In the past two weeks three lives have been lost to fires at dwellings in Welkom and Thabong.
The chairman of the Welkom Business Forum, Jakes Jooste, says businessmen and residents have had enough.
“We are going to bring criminal charges against the municipality. We were in a disastrous situation. There were flames and fuel and dangerous chemicals in the mix, and we had no support.
“The municipality is non-compliant and incompetent. If it was not for the private company HazQuip, local farmers who rushed to the rescue, and also businessmen and their staff, we would have had so much more of a disaster on hand.
Jooste says flames were seen as far as Riebeeckstad, some 12 km away, and the explosion was heard as far as St Helena, 7 km away in the opposite direction. The temperatures were in excess of 200 °C.
“There were sky-high flames, fumes from chemicals, and gas, and we had no help from authorities, not even the SAPS were there to cordon off the area,” says Jooste.
He says none of the fire hydrants in the vicinity were working, and the volunteers and staff from the nearby businesses had to use their own water to fight the fires.
Four weeks ago Vista reported that Matjhabeng did not have operational fire trucks. This is still the case.
On enquiry, the municipality gave Vista the same generic answer (word for word) they gave four weeks ago. The SAPS did not respond to a media enquiry.
