Johannesburg Informal Settlement Shacks Razed to the Ground After Explosion, SA Stunned

• Scores of mkhukhus found in an informal settlement in Johannesburg near Bryanston on 2 December
• Witnesses heard explosions near the informal settlement after one of the shacks caught fire
• South Africans were irritated at the informal settlements as people in the area were trying to salvage what was left of their homes

For seven years, Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered accidents, fires, outbreaks, nature, weather and natural disaster-related incidents at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

BRYANSTON, JOHANNESBURG — Residents of an informal settlement in Bryanston in Johannesburg lost their homes. A fire razed their shacks to the ground on 2 December 2024.

Joburg fire razes shacks

According to @eNCA, explosions were heard in the area leading up to the firefighters. Although the cause of the fire is unknown, it's believed one of the shacks caught fire.

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People who lost their homes were salvaging the homes. The councillor in the area repeatedly tried to evict the shack dwellers without success. Firefighters were on the scene and fought to extinguish the fire.

View the video here.

Netizens roast Bryanston residents

South Africans commenting on the video shared unpleasant views on the area's residents near the informal settlement.

Keemetswe said:

"The employers living in affluent Bryanston don't want their cheap foreign labourers living near them."

Xolisa Radebe said:

"I used to stay in Paulshof on the corner of Main and Witkoppen. Those squatters are noisy. We got to a stage we couldn't to even open windows because of flies. People were getting mugged and hijacked often."

Tee said:

"Those informal settlements mushroom anywhere and anytime."

Tshepi asked:

"How does the government even allow them to build shacks in the first place?"

Mynman said:

"GNU works in mysterious ways."

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Lungile said:

"Ugly results of spatial town planning."

15 shacks caught fire in Johannesburg

In a related article, Briefly News reported that 15 shacks in the Johannesburg CBD caught fire.

The shacks were in a hijacked building, and one of them caught fire. South Africans were angry that informal settlements were cropping up in hijacked buildings.

Source: Briefly News