NATIONAL NEWS - Former Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus has urged the government and banks to negotiate a deal to assist scores of Knysna home owners whose houses were gutted by runaway fires last week.
Marcus, 67, is one of hundreds of Knysna residents piecing together their lives this week following a devastating blaze which wiped out homes and destroyed infrastructure in the Garden Route town.
She retired from the Reserve Bank in 2014 and has lived in Knysna for two years.
“My house is burnt to the fence but I’m fine. I bought the house in 2009,” she said in an interview after a Belvidere community meeting yesterday.
At the meeting with municipal and provincial government bosses, she cautioned the government to be mindful of the ripple effect of the fires.
“There are people who work [in affected establishments],” she said.
“They might not be direct fire victims, but they are victims of the fire because they now have no work.”
She urged the government to focus on key areas where rebuilding would have economic spin-offs for those who needed jobs.
