The cause of Knysna fires needs to be determined quickly
13 June 2017
The cause of the destructive fires in and around Knysna needs to be investigated urgently and the findings need to be made available to the public as soon as possible, says dr. Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus.
According to dr. Groenewald, such an investigation is absolutely necessary in the light of the article published in Rapport yesterday. The article reports that an engineer, dr. Wallace Vosloo, and his neighbour, mr. Anton du Plessis, reported a smouldering fire in the vicinity to the chief fire officer in Sedgefield, mr. Wayne Sternsdorf, quite some time ago, but that nothing was done to put out the fire.
“In a wooded area like Knysna, it is extremely irresponsible and negligent not to put out a smouldering fire immediately. We want answers in this regard.
“The police also needs to investigate the possibility of arson as numerous fires broke out in a very short period of time over a great distance, from George right through to Port Elizabeth. It is extremely suspect that so many fires can start so quickly and over such a large area. The investigation should be done in cooperation with the Eden district municipality.
“Launching an investigation into the spread of false or fake news on social media is of no use. Rather, the possibility of any real crimes, like arson, having been committed needs to be investigated and then the facts need to be made available to the public.
“Eerily similar are the numerous fires that broke out over a large area in the vicinity of the Cape Peninsula over a short period of time last year. These fires also lead to various allegations of arson.
“The FF Plus has requested the police to investigate the allegations of arson as well as the cause of the fires and to report their findings. Thus far, we have had no response in this regard and the FF Plus is, once again, asking for the findings of the investigation to be made public.
“If there is indeed an element of criminality in the cause of the fires, the public cannot be blamed for social media posts. For this reason, we need answers as soon as possible,” says dr. Groenewald.
Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus Leader, 13 June 2017
