Johannesburg - Former call centre agent Michael Moyo, who lives in an apartment building neighbouring the Usindiso Shelter building, said the night of the Johannesburg fire was traumatic, not only for him but for his family.
On Thursday, 77 people were killed, while more than 30 were still being treated in facilities in Gauteng, as confirmed by the Gauteng Health Department on Saturday.
Moyo said that at about 12.30am, he heard an explosion and rushed out to see what had happened.
“When I saw the building was on fire, I went back home, dressed properly, and returned to the ground floor. I met people running from the building that was on fire, heading to our apartment building to seek refuge,” he said.
Moyo said he had to wake his family because he was unsure whether the blaze would spread to his building.
“As we are connected on the same electrical grid, I had no choice but to wake the family,in case the fire affected our building, because when there is load shedding. We are on a similar grid,” he said.
Moyo said the City was supposed to be proactive, but he believed it had been reactive. He pointed out that the issue had been a ticking time bomb since the time ActionSA president and former City mayor, Herman Mashaba, wanted to deal with the matter of hijacked and dilapidated buildings in the inner city.
“There should be a shift from reacting to being active before a crisis of this scale occurs,” he said.
The political forum, Cry of the Xcluded, urged the government to address the pressing issue that has plagued the heart of Johannesburg for too long – the problem of homelessness and hijacked buildings in the inner city.
This problem is multifaceted, involving issues such as poverty, unemployment, urban decay, and a lack of affordable housing. To address this problem effectively, we must take a holistic approach, the forum said.
It said it was “deeply disappointing” to hear politicians throw NGOs such as Seri under the bus instead of taking full responsibility for failing to deliver on its promise of a better life for all.
The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, called on city authorities to send fire and sanitation inspectors this week into informally occupied buildings in Johannesburg, Durban and other towns to ensure their safety.
“Just a few weeks ago, I visited the site of the gas explosion in Lilian Ngoyi Street, and was heartbroken to see the deterioration that has devastated a city I love. And now we have seen more than 70 people die in that terrible fire, also in the city centre.
“Those of us who grew up in Johannesburg under apartheid knew the building that caught fire, number 80 Albert Street, as the Johannesburg pass office, where, at the thump of a stamp in your ‘dompas’, you were either allowed to stay in the city or were forced out to try to eke out a living in your rural Bantusan.
“It is deeply distressing to see one kind of suffering in that building be replaced by another kind of suffering under democracy,” he said.
Makgoba called on NGOs fighting for the rights of people to stay in the buildings to secure court orders requiring local governments to enforce fire and hygiene by-laws.
The Star