Voices
Some first-hand experience may change Waner’s views
Ernest Waner of Brakpan is talking from a position of ignorance or so it seems (“Squatter camp fires: suggestions for pre-emptive action ignored”, SA Jewish Report, April 7). Either that or he has never set foot in any of the squatter camps, otherwise he wouldn’t be so quick to give advice, although he doesn’t say what it was, to Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape, Chief Fire Officer Ian Schnetler and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille.
Brian Josselowitz, Cape Town
I have been to most of the squatter camps around the Mother City, including Imizamu Yethu, and even to my untrained eye, it is quite easy to see why whole settlements are wiped out by fire so easily.
The shacks are built too close to each other and when a paraffin stove or a burning candle is knocked over accidentally while the occupant is sleeping or out, the blaze spreads like the proverbial wildfire, leaving devastation in its wake.
How does Waner expect the City to be proactive and get there before the fires start? Perhaps he should tell us what advice he gave to the authorities and those of us who live here can judge if it’s worth taking and then persuade Zille, Schnetler and De Lille to introduce the measures he proposed.