Horror of gutted building relived: Unraveling the tale of the Joburg fire

The five-storey building which caught fire in Johannesburg, resulting in the death of 74 people and 52 people being injured, was apparently hijacked by a man only known as “Madala”.

The tenants, who were mostly foreign nationals, paid R1 600 to rent a single room which was divided by curtains, cardboard, or even bed sheets.

In some instances, eight people shared a room as they could not afford the rent.

Madala and his cartel allegedly targeted illegal foreign nationals who were unemployed or were street hawkers.

READ: Six stories you need to read about the JHB CBD fire

Despite living there for several years, the people who rented rooms have never met Madala and they only knew him through the people who collected rent. Afikile Madiya, who lived in the building, said it used to house homeless women and children until it was taken over by men who then built structures with planks to divide the rooms.

Madiya said this was after the previous manager of the building moved out after failing to take care of the women.

“She left because the women were angry because she would keep all the stuff given to the women,” she said.

“After she left in 2017, we stayed and in 2019, men started moving in because they realised the women were staying there for free.”

Madiya said the men started building structures and divided rooms for destitute foreigners.

“You would find that four or eight people were renting a single room. The building caught so much fire because of the boards and sheets that were dividing the rooms,” she said.

READ: Panicking Joburg CBD fire victims were ‘squashed against closed gate’

Madiya said the men then demanded money for rent. However, the women refused because they had been staying there free of charge.

“No-one knows to whom the rent money goes. What we know is if you were not South African, you were forced to pay rent.”

A foreign national who lived in the building and who survived the fire, said they paid rent to a man who is only known as “Madala”.

The woman said “Madala” has people who collect rent for him, but she has never met him.

“I pay R1 600 and I’m afraid by talking to you and giving my name, I may be killed,” she said.

“Most of the people who were staying there were from other abandoned buildings. But this building was much better because it had water and electricity supplies.”

Her only concern was that the building was like a pigsty.

“The ones we pay rent to just told us they are there to collect money and not to fix anything,” she said.

She said she only survived the fire because her child woke her up but they didn’t manage to grab anything.

“These people didn’t care how many people live there, as long as they can get money,” she said.

“I could have been one of those who died because I was sleeping. If it wasn’t for my child, I would have died. Every single one of our belongings was burnt in the fire.”

Dikeledi Mpobane, who stays opposite the gutted building, said when the fire started she thought it was one of the fights the residents would have with the police.

“If I hear shouting, I hide until everything settles down. A week does not pass by without some drama there,” Mpobane said.

She said she heard from neighbours that people from the building were jumping from the windows and babies were being thrown out of the building.

She said when she was about to leave for work in the morning, bodies had piled up at their entrance.

“There were bodies everywhere, some were covered in blankets, others in foil, some were burnt beyond recognition.”