Usindiso building blaze inquiry: Witness’ testimony highlights safety violations

The first witness of the commission of inquiry into the Usindiso building blaze, Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services acting chief Rapulane Monageng, cited several non-compliant practices.

Nearly three months ago, a fire killed 77 people in the building in the inner city. The Commission of Inquiry held its first public proceedings yesterday.

Usindiso building fire

In the early hours of 31 August, a raging blaze ripped through the overcrowded five-storey Usindiso building, which had been hijacked. The building was under the authority of the Johannesburg Property Company and was owned by the city.

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The incident led to a debate on hijacked buildings in Joburg’s city centre, with many indicating the Marshalltown incident was due to poor service delivery and criminality. There were residents in the building who were paying unknown “landlords”.

When The Citizen visited the building after the fire, tenants, who were mostly foreign nationals, said they paid R1 600 to rent a single room divided by curtains, cardboard or even bed sheets. In some instances, eight people shared a room as they could not afford the rent.

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The commission saw photographs which showed the internal and external structure and the non-compliance with fire and safety laws. The evidence presented was dealt with by evidence leader, advocate Ishmael Semenya.

Exit points

According to Monageng, the internal makeshift structures contributed to the difficulty of exiting the burning building. Many died of smoke inhalation and from the impact of jumping from the building.

“On the south side of the building, residents would salvage wooden boards and plastic material to construct inside Usindiso building. Literally, the material supply was behind the building,” he said.

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“This material is easily burnt. It is plastic and wooden material laminated in glue, it is plywood, and has no fire resistance. This is not because of us, but because of South African standards.”

Monageng said the ground floor emergency evacuation door was closed during the fire.

“The emergency evacuation door was double the normal size door – meaning when there is an emergency, a volume of people can leave. But we found it closed off, which compromised the evacuation of the building in total.”

“There was only one single door (80cm) used in everyday life at Usindiso building, to evacuate or get inside the building. During the fire, all the people in the building were forced to use that door to evacuate.

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“On the fourth floor, an emergency door leading to the courtyard for safety was locked with chains and locks. Firefighters and rescue teams had to break it to get access. The lock was on heavy steel security gates.

“This is a non-compliant practice. It is unacceptable to close off emergency doors with locks and chains.”

Shacks on ground floor

Monageng added that there were shacks with a bed and cooking equipment on the ground floor.

“They were constructed with wooden material. There were stoves and mattresses burnt. There were plenty of constructions using cheap boards and plastic.”

The commission, appointed by Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, is chaired by Justice Sisi Khampepe. She said the inquiry would be in two parts.

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Part A would deal with the fire, its cause and who, if anyone, must be held accountable for the deaths and injuries. Part B would deal with the prevalence of buildings taken over by criminal syndicates or other groups and leased to tenants who cannot afford other housing without providing basic services.

– lungas@citizen.co.za