• Jabulane Khumalo survived zama zama explosives blast in his Springs home by a split second after helping a friend's son who stored illegal mining explosives.

• Four houses were destroyed, nine need rebuilding, and 130 others were damaged, while homeless families sleep in the cold, guarding their belongings.

A Springs man says he regrets helping a friend's son after the zama zama stored explosives in his home that nearly killed him when they blew up.

Jabulane Khumalo from Slovo Park was washing clothes outside on Friday when one of his tenants alerted him that a room was on fire.

"I immediately ran with a hosepipe to try to put out the fire, but there was too much smoke covering the shack, preventing us from seeing inside," he said.

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"Just as I turned my back from the shack on fire, I heard a loud bang, followed by a cloud of smoke, and I was violently pushed to the ground by flying corrugated iron sheets that cut into my back."

Khumalo collapsed and lost consciousness. A neighbour rushed him to the local clinic.

He said he had offered his home to his friend's son, a foreign national who works as a zama zama, but didn't suspect he would use it to store explosives.

"I know he works as a zama zama but I didn't suspect he would use my home as storage for explosives. Now I have lost everything and almost died from the explosion because of my good heart," said Khumalo.

"He would frequently visit, but I didn't suspect anything sinister, only that he was trying to make sure his son was comfortable because he had just moved to South Africa."

The explosion was devastating. Four houses were blasted to the ground, nine have structural damage and need to be rebuilt, 40 need new roofs, and 90 houses have damaged windows.

Since the incident, homeless families have been sleeping in freezing cold weather, trying to guard what's left of their damaged homes.

Councillor Charmaine Kock said the local church offered them accommodation, but they refused because they fear drug addicts may steal their valuables overnight.

"We have reached out to local businesses, mines and the city for help and are hoping by Monday morning we will have temporary structures built for the affected families," she said.