Johannesburg - A few weeks after a fire claimed the lives of 77 people in Johannesburg, comparable reports have been spiralling out of control across the province.
As many of these events continue to be investigated, there are also growing concerns about motivation and how it can be best prevented as fires continue to ravage Joburg.
On Friday, in yet another blaze, a building with more than 200 shacks built inside was gutted by fire at the corner of Delvers and Cornelius streets in Marshalltown, in Joburg’s CBD.
Johannesburg Fire Department’s Xolile Khumalo said a fire was reported at around 10 am, and the caller claimed that a 3-storey building that had apparently been hijacked was on fire.
“Everybody inside was evacuated to safety and no injuries were reported,” said Khumalo. She said the fire started inside on the ground floor, where residents had erected shacks.
The incident was not very far from the Usindiso building that tragically burnt down a few weeks ago.
The MMC for Public Safety, Dr Mcini Tshwaku, revealed that the city had embarked on an inspection of buildings that pose a fire risk.
“More investigations will be conducted to determine the exact cause of the latest fire, which remains unknown at the present moment.”
Joburg Transport MMC Kenny Kunene highlighted the importance of inspecting and closing down inhabitable and health-hazardous buildings in Johannesburg.
He says they aim to ensure such tragic incidents are prevented by removing people from inadequate establishments. They inspected the building on Albert and Delver streets, next to the one that burnt, in collaboration with Operation Restore and Operation Manje Namhlanje.
“Today we are just going in to inspect; we will be back with evictions and evacuations. NGO or no NGO, people have died, and now we are going to make sure that we prevent the loss of life. We are removing people from buildings that EMS has said are unsafe and uninhabitable or are a health hazard,” said Kunene.
Earlier this month, the MMC for Human Settlements, Councillor Anthea Leitch, continued her oversight work to witness first-hand the circumstances surrounding the state of some of the many hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg inner city.
Leitch was accompanied by Region F director Dumisa Chilli, and the relevant local ward councillors. The MMC visited the Wembley Shelter, the Old Perm Building, MB sites, the Moth building and other structures.
The Wembley Stadium area continues to see a mix of problems, including illegal foreigners who argue that the government should cater to their needs since a building they were occupying in 2016 burnt down.
The inadequate conditions that were seen in many of the inspected buildings resulted in Leitch calling on her colleagues in the provincial and national governments to intervene.
The Star