Police arrest man in connection with deadly Marshalltown fire

Gauteng police arrested a man after he told the Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso building fire that he started the blaze, which claimed 76 lives in Marshalltown in the Joburg CBD in August.

Police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said the 29-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday.

“The man was arrested after he confessed at the Commission of Enquiry for being involved in starting the tragic fire.

“He is expected to appear before the Johannesburg court soon on charges of arson, 76 counts of murder, and 120 counts of attempted murder,” Nevhuhulwi said.

The Commission of Inquiry into last year’s fatal fire in the Usindiso building in Joburg CBD resumed this week.

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Usindiso building inquiry

The inquiry is investigating the cause of the blaze that killed 77 people.

During an in-camera sitting on Tuesday morning, the man told the panel of commissioners that the fire flared up when he set a body alight, which he strangled to death on the night of the deadly blaze.

The man said he then went to buy petrol and poured it over the body and threw a matchstick to ignite the flame before he fled the building, according to EWN.

The man also said he was high on crystal meth, supplied by a drug lord who he referred to as the “big boss” in the Usindiso building.

Deadline

The deadline for completing the initial phase of the commission has been pushed to the end of March, with the inquiry’s report expected in April.

Additionally, the timeframe for the second phase of the commission has been extended to the end of July, and the report is now scheduled for submission at the end of August.

The blaze broke out at the hijacked Usindiso building, located on the corner of Albert and Delvers streets in Marshalltown in what has been described as one of the worst  tragedies to have hit Gauteng’s economic hub.

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