The City of Johannesburg has been found liable for the Usindiso building fire, and this finding should anger all residents of Johannesburg.
On Monday 05 May 2024, the commission of inquiry into the Usindiso building fire found the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and its entity Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) to be liable for the tragedy.
This finding comes after Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi established a commission of inquiry, chaired by Justice Sisi Khampepe, in September last year to investigate the circumstances surrounding the fire at the Usindiso building in August 2023, which claimed 76 lives.
In short, the reasoning behind the findings of the commission boils down to severe neglect. According to the commission report, the building was declared a “problem property” as far back as 2019.
Why was the building declared a problem property? Well, the building had violated numerous municipal by-laws relating to water, electricity, public safety, waste management and emergency services. Occupants detailed the presence of numerous illegal electricity connections, overcrowding of rooms and the usage of water from firefighting installations as domestic water supply.
These are a mere snapshot of the conditions that made Usindiso unlivable- others included violent crime, a lack of waste management and the blocking of emergency exits by shacks – things CoJ was made aware of over four years ago.
The building was initially abandoned in 2017 by Usindiso Ministries and was never zoned for residential purposes. By 2019, the CoJ and JPC were aware of this. Moreover, they were aware of the decaying state of the building, with the commission report stating the building was liable to be demolished back then. This did not occur, however, and the building was soon hijacked and illegally occupied.
As the property owners, the CoJ and JPC were then responsible for ensuring compliance with these by-laws designed to ensure building safety. If this had been done, the fire would arguably not have had the devastating consequences it did. According to the commission report, “Law enforcement at Usindiso building was virtually absent and there was no political accountability taken by the officials of the City for the condition of the building both at the time and in the aftermath of the fire.”
In essence, the severity of the fire could have been prevented had the CoJ simply done its job. While yes, the fire was caused by an isolated incident (a man setting someone on fire on the ground floor), did the fire have to reach the levels it did? In the commission report, survivors detail how they could not access escape routes and had to jump from the fourth floor to survive. If the CoJ had addressed the fact that shacks had been blocking emergency passages, would more people have been able to escape?
This is just an example of how neglect exacerbated the fire, and there’s more that could be said to illustrate the point. If water had been supplied to the building, residents would probably not have tampered with firefighting instalments. If the municipality had disconnected the illegal electricity connections in the building, perhaps the flame would not have spread as quickly as it did. The list could go on.
In other words, if the municipality had taken accountability, the commission would not be recommending a plaque to commemorate 76 lives.
As South Africans and residents of Joburg, this should enrage us. The Usindiso fire is not just a random tragedy, it is a product of governmental incompetence and complicity. In the rubble and ashes, the stench of Johannesburg’s corrupt government lingers – a stench that has proven to be fatal now.
FEATURED IMAGE: Kabir Jugram, 2024 Wits Vuvuzela journalist. Photo: File/Leon Sadik
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Wits Vuvuzela, ‘Long live Usindiso!’ chant fire survivors, April 2024
- Wits Vuvuzela, ‘I saw fire erupt from the ground’ – eyewitness, September 2023
