Mayor joins teams supporting fire-affected households in Dunoon Site 5

10 January 2026

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis joined City teams on the ground at Dunoon’s Site 5 informal settlement this morning together with Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Carl Pophaim. City staff are currently giving various forms of support to affected residents following a devastating fire impacting hundreds of households on Friday, 9 January 2026.

‘This was a terrible fire, which our firefighters bravely fought to get under control in difficult, windy conditions which also required aerial water-bombing using two helicopters. Eventually the fire was extinguished around 19:00 last night. City teams have since been working urgently to help affected residents. Our frontline staff are on the ground providing various forms of immediate support, including safety assistance, debris clearing, coordinating interim relief with NPOs, and capturing personal details for emergency support.
 
‘We are grateful for the care shown in this difficult time by all our staff who have spent long hours reaching out to each and every one of  those affected, including City staff from Human Settlements, Disaster Risk Management (DRM), Fire and Rescue Services, and Basic Services,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

‘The City urges the National Department of Human Settlements to act with urgency in releasing reconstruction kits to affected residents as quickly as possible. We have consistently argued that rapid response is critical in fire and flood disasters, particularly in high density informal settlements.
 
‘The City continues to advocate for the human settlements disaster mandate and funding to be devolved so that we can cut out the national middle man and again provide direct relief, as was the case until a few years ago,’ said Councillor Pophaim.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office