Fire is a serious hazard in shack settlements in South Africa.A Big Devil in the Jondolos: A report on shack fires, by Matt Birkinshaw, Abahlali baseMjondolo, 2008 It has been argued that "On average in South Africa over the last five years there are ten shack fires a day with someone dying in a shack fire every other day."The Politics of Fire, Matt Birkinshaw, Pambazuka, 2008 In 2011, 151 were reported to have been killed in shack fires in Cape Town.Are some Cape Town fires hotter than others?, Rebecca Davis, Daily Maverick, 2015 It was reported that in 2014, 2,090 people burned to death in the Gauteng province, "many of them in shack fires that sweep through informal settlements".This is how South Africa dies, Richard Poplak, The Daily Maverick, 2015
Causes of shack fires
Shack fires are often termed accidents but this has been contested by shack dweller's organisations.Shack Fires are No Accident, School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005 Martin J. Murray argues that by "recruiting human frailty or sheer accident to their cause, key city-builders have been able to rationalize municipal policy-choices that have accomplished little toward changing the circumstances under which the urban poor—who bear the awful brunt of these continuing cycles of death and destruction — tend to invariably find themselves in harm’s way."
Matt Birkinshaw lists the key reasons for shack fires as lack of land, lack of housing, denial of access to electricity, adequate water and to adequate emergency services.The Politics of Fire, Matt Birkinshaw, Pambazuka, 2008
Responses to shack fires
The charitable NGO 'Children of Fire' offers support for victims of fires, and in particular to children.About Children of Fire, Children of Fire, undated
The shack dwellers' social movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has campaigned against what it perceives as the failure of the state to address the problem of shack firesCollection of statements on shack fires by Abahlali baseMjondolo and organised people to connect themselves directly to the electricity grid.'Getting electricity was so exciting', The Guardian (UK), 2011"Where there is fire, there is politics": Ungovernability and Material Life in Urban South Africa , Kerry Chance, Cultural Anthropology, 2015
See also Lumkani, a social enterprise launched by South African Students to deliver a networked heat detector device to decrease risks of fire in rural and urban informal settlements.
Further reading Shack Fires are No Accident, School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005 The Solution to Shack Fires is Electrification, Not More Training, South African Civil Society Information Service, 2008 A Big Devil in the Jondolos: A report on shack fires, by Matt Birkinshaw, Abahlali baseMjondolo, 2008
'Getting electricity was so exciting', Interview with Zodwa Nsibande, The Guardian (UK), 2011 In the wake of the Makause shack fire, the destitute and forgotten, The Daily Maverick, 2012 Shack fires: A devil in the detail of development, The Daily Maverick, 2013 Are some Cape Town fires hotter than others?, Rebecca Davis, The Daily Maverick, 2015 "Where there is fire, there is politics": Ungovernability and Material Life in Urban South Africa , Kerry Chance, Cultural Anthropology, 2015
Notes and references