On 31 August 2023, 77 people died in a fire which engulfed the five-storey Usindiso Building in central Johannesburg. Photo: Michele Spatari / AFP
The Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso building fire in the Johannesburg CBD on 31 August last year resumed this week following the startling confession of a 31-year-old man.
Sithembiso Mdlalose recently told the commission that he started the fire, which claimed the lives of 77 people and left many destitute.
The commission, which was appointed to probe the possible causes of the fire and investigate the hijacked buildings in Johannesburg‘s inner city, is currently hearing the testimony of witnesses and survivors.
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Mdlalose was arrested on 23 January after he made the bombshell confession at the inquiry, led by Justice Sisi Khampepe, that he was behind South Africa’s deadliest fire.
The alleged arsonist then made a second confession in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 24 January.
At the inquiry, Mdlalose shared the grim details of how he had beaten and choked a resident of the hijacked building to death while high on drugs at the behest of a Tanzanian drug lord.
Mdlalose said he then poured petrol on the man and threw a burning matchstick onto him. The fire spread from the room to other parts of the building.
He claimed many people had been killed and dead bodies hidden in what he called the “slaughterhouse” of a building before the 31 August incident.
Mdlalose has since abandoned his bail application, and the case has been postponed to 6 March for further investigation.
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His distraught father, who refused to be named, told ZiMoja that he last saw his son nine years ago when Mdlalose left the family’s Soweto home.
He said he was shocked to his core that his son was capable of an act of murder that caused the blaze, which also claimed the lives of 12 children.
“I got a call from his aunt, who is my sister. She said she got a visit from the police, and they told her that Sithembiso confessed to starting a fire that killed a lot of people.
“I was actually surprised that he was still alive because he had left home to live on the streets,” he explained.
He is a very intelligent boy—an A student to be exact—but unfortunately, he was consumed by drugs. The last time I saw him, he just got a bonus from an insurance company that he was working for.
“He left home on that day and never came back,” the heartbroken father told the publication.
“The police showed me a picture of him looking very thin and frail. He is naturally a chubby person.”
My child has been consumed by Joburg lights and despite several attempts of trying to look for him, we couldn’t find him.”
Mdlalose is being detained in a prison cell in a secret location after his lawyer, Dumisani Mabunda, told the court that his client’s life was in danger following his damning confessions.
He is facing one count of arson, 77 counts of murder and 86 counts of attempted murder.
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On Monday, a former resident of the Usindiso building, Ben Khumalo, told the commission of inquiry that he was aware of drugs sold on the ground floor.
Thobile Mthembu, who has been left destitute by the fire, testified that the deceased was a criminal in the area.
“What I heard is they tried to hijack a car, and they were located in that building, and that’s how they ended up dying,” Mthembu was quoted as saying by TimesLIVE.
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She intimated that the municipality was aware of the hijacked building.
“My question is how long [had the building] been hijacked? Up to five years and what was done about it? What did the government do?
“The municipality was aware of that building. There was a mobile clinic that used to treat people there. There was also waste removal and police who used to come there. They were aware of what was happening inside,” Mthembu told the commission.
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