Joburg building fire a result of poor governance

Whenever there is an avoidable tragedy in South Africa, the blame game is played. And, in the case of the horrific Johannesburg CBD fire yesterday, city officials and politicians were pitted against NGOs.

City officials were quick to claim that some NGOs, which have been trying to protect poor people in the city from being abused, had prevented the forces of law and order from doing their jobs and evicting people from buildings which were patently unsafe.

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That’s a convenient scapegoat because some NGOs have gone to court to prevent evictions from some hijacked buildings in the city. But what the council officials and politicians, protesting innocence, ignore is that these court cases are a recent phenomenon.

The reality is that the government – at municipal, provincial and national levels – has turned a blind eye to the gradual collapse of the city centre, to the point where it has almost been abandoned to criminal gangs and syndicates.

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Now that at least 73 people have lost their lives, our apparatchiks are weeping, wailing and pointing fingers at everyone but themselves. Had building hijacking been tackled firmly when it first reared its head – at least 20 years ago or longer – then syndicates might have been deterred. As there was no appreciable reaction from the authorities, however, the thugs jumped in.

As property owners abandoned buildings – because of spiralling crime and deteriorating municipal services – the criminals got more “product”. And, as the CBD became a haven for those living beyond the law, including many illegal migrants, the gangs got their “consumers”.

These renters do not complain about no water, electricity or fire safety in buildings, because they are desperate.

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This is what happens when you fail to govern properly. No amount of blame shifting is going to change that awful truth.