Knysna is rebuilding after the devastating fires of exactly a year ago, but the going has not been smooth. The tell-tale signs of the inferno which crept out of the mountains at Elandskraal northwest of the town on the morning of June 7 are still there.
The smears of black and brown across the hills, ribbed with soil sausages to curb erosion, are stark in places and in others partially camouflaged beneath a green flush of regrowth.
The sight is surreal because the noise of the drama, pain, heroism and destruction which left these lingering scars is absent.
In town, the municipality has been busy in White Location rebuilding the 198 RDP homes and shacks belonging to people earning less than R3 500 a month and in the suburbs builders are busy.
But in the worst-hit areas such as Knysna Heights and other suburbs where 973 homes were razed, for every site with a construction crew there are still many properties with houses burned to the ground or blackened and broken.
According to the Garden Route Rebuild Initiative, 134 businesses were destroyed.
Well-known companies such as Timber Village are back in operation.
But others have reportedly shut, with the owners – many of them struggling with uninsured or under-insured fireravaged homes, and subsequent sky-high rentals – having left for cheaper neighbouring towns such as Sedgefield, Groot Brak and Klein Brak.
Former Round Table Knysna 59 chairman Peter Bester, an estate agent who helped coordinate the massive aid distribution centre at Loerie Park, said the hall had been stacked to the rafters with donations and he and his team had distributed about R5-million worth of goods.
He said his information was that less than half of the people who had lost everything were properly insured.
“The municipality did try to help by zeroing property rates, but to allow them to do that the affected plots were designated vacant – so electricity and water tariffs went up, negating any benefit. The intention was good but it was poorly executed.
“The economy [is] difficult in Knysna and my understanding is that a number of businesses have closed or will be closing down.”
Knysna Ratepayers’ Association chairman Chris Gould said: “[It seems] that the people who were hardest hit were the uninsured and under-insured lowermiddle and working classes.”
Megan Taplin, manager of the Knysna section of the Garden Route National Park, said the fire scar extended across 16 000ha, including 2 100ha of fynbos and indigenous forest in the park and in Cape Nature reserves.
She said the fynbos had quickly recovered and the forest would recover over the next few decades.
The main lesson was in the threat posed by alien pines, gums and other species which injected flammable oils and a huge extra fuel into the fire.
“I hope the fire has raised awareness about the problems caused by alien species because, without those species, it would not have burned so intensely.”Timber Village co-owner Daniel Hennesy said it had lost 300m³ of precious timber.
“Buildings can be replaced, but lives and this timber from our local indigenous forests are irreplaceable.”
The company had lost its factory, storeroom and office, but had managed to grow its pre-fire staff of eight to 14 and were now pressing ahead, he said.
Knysna mayor Eleanore BouwSpies said she had been delivering her inaugural budget on the morning of the fire and suddenly cellphones had started buzzing in the chamber.
“My call was from my parents, who never normally called me at work,” she said.
“They told me what everyone else was hearing at the same time – ‘the town is burning down’.”
She said the emphasis now was on creating new firebreaks and the ongoing removal of alien trees in partnership with various other stakeholders.
The municipality had bolstered its fleet of fire-fighting vehicles by buying a top-of-therange vehicle and upgrading another.
“There was no script during the fire and we learned as we went along. It was wonderful the way people came together. It is something I will never forget.”
According to the Garden Route Rebuild Initiative, a public-private partnership formed to coordinate multi-sector rehabilitation across Knysna-Sedgefield-Plettenberg Bay, seven people in total died in the fires, including two firefighters, and 1 171 homes were destroyed.
Eight thousand people had to be evacuated, 21 emergency care centres were established, some R5-million worth of damage was caused to road signs, barriers and fencing and R10-million worth of livestock fodder was burned.
In Knysna, the authorities have spent R7.5-million restoring electricity and water services.
One of those whose lives were changed forever was Blessing Nyirenda, 24.
He collapsed when he heard that he had lost his wife Enala, 23, and his little daughter Catherine, 4, in the blaze.
Now, with help and his own fortitude, he is back on his feet.

He said he had found work with a plumbing company and was aiming to fulfil his dream of becoming a qualified plumber.
The Knysna Municipality is due to unveil a statue today commemorating the fires.
The event takes place at 3pm at the municipal finance building in Queen Street...