/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ED_540957.jpg "A firefighter dampens down hotspots after the fire. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ED_540955.jpg "Fire engines at the scene after the fire. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ED_540965.jpg "The view from the home of Sthembele Vena and his wife Zinzi, who lost everything in the fire. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ED_540958.jpg "Inside the ruined home of Sthembele Vena and his wife Zinzi. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ED_540966.jpg "The devastation left by the fire. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ED_540962.jpg "Residents sift through the wreckage of their homes after the fire. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images)")
PHOTO ESSAY
Fatal pre-dawn fire devastates Masiphumelele
In a tragic twist of fate, a raging inferno has turned homes into ashes and dreams into smoke, leaving residents like Sthembele and Zinzi Vena to sift through the charred remains of their lives.
Residents sift through the wreckage of their homes after a fire that broke out in Masiphumelele, Cape Town, on 23 December. (Photo: Brenton Geach )