News24 | WATCH | Woman, baby ‘locked’ in home die in blaze as fire tears through Durban settlement

About 100 shacks were destroyed in a fire at the Kennedy Road Informal Settlement in Durban

• Nonhle Mbangwa and 18-month-old Niphiwe Zulu died in a shack, which was allegedly locked, during a midnight fire.
• The blaze destroyed 100 dwellings at Kennedy Road informal settlement, displacing 150 residents.
• The fire, which was eventually extinguished, may have originated from open flames, possibly due to an unattended stove or candle. 

A 25-year-old woman and an 18-month-old baby boy died in a fire that ravaged about 100 dwellings at the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban in the early hours of Saturday morning.

While police said the fire was started by a candle in the shack where the woman died, the eThekwini fire department division commander Sifiso Mtshali said the suspected cause of the fire appeared to be open flames, potentially due to an unattended stove.

READ | Nine die in KZN fire-related incidents, residents urged to be vigilant

He said the fire, which broke out around midnight, had left about 150 people displaced.

He said it took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, which had managed to spread rapidly within an hour.

“We had a team of 19 firefighters, with five trucks having responded to the scene. The fire was put out using three rescue appliances, we also had two water carriers on scene.”

According to residents who spoke to News24 on Saturday, the woman who died, Nonhle Mbangwa, had allegedly been locked in from the outside of her boyfriend’s shack with the 18-month-old boy, and was unable to escape.

Nonhle’s mother, Sindiswa Mbanga, said the toddler, Niphiwe Zulu, was not her grandson, but was the child of Nonhle’s friend.

“No one seems to know who locked her in from the outside. Neighbours heard the cries of the child from inside. Nonhle had only been here for two days; she had been home in the Eastern Cape for two months. If she wasn’t locked in, she might have been able to escape,” said Mbanga.

She said they had all been sitting around a fire on Friday night when Nonhle and the child’s mother left for the shack.

“The child’s mother left the child asleep with Nonhle and came back to sit around the fire with us.”

Gift of the Givers arrived at the scene around 04:30 to assist residents.

Bilall Jeewa, from the organisation, said: “We have managed to get some tea and sandwiches for now because they have been up all night with children outside.”

Resident Vusi Doncobe said he lost everything in the fire.

“At first we tried to put out the fire ourselves, fetching water from communal taps using buckets but it was spreading too quickly.”

Last month, about 70 residents had to be rescued from the same informal settlement after a fire broke out at night. Around 40 shacks were destroyed in the blaze.

Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said two inquests were opened in relation to the deaths.

“Police in Sydenham have registered two counts of inquest for investigation after a 25-year-old woman and an 18-month-old child reportedly died in a fire at an informal settlement on Kennedy Road on Friday night. It is suspected that a candle, which was at the deceased persons’ shack could have started the fire.”

*EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with police comment. (19/07/25)