Father who jumped out of burning Joburg CBD building found alive

Sihle Kenneth Dube, a father of five in his early 40s who jumped out of the burning Johannesburg CBD building in the early hours of Thursday, has been found alive.

His sister Ethel Jack, who earlier spoke to TimesLIVE saying she was searching for her brother after the deadly fire, said Dube was found in hospital.

“With God's grace we found him. He is in hospital and with my daughter,” said Jack. 

“I came here to check his cars — three Chryslers — and they have been found, but his belongings are in the building as no-one is allowed inside yet.”  

With the building sealed off, Jack said they were trying to see how they could get the cars moved as the keys were inside. 

She said her brother sustained serious injuries and “could not even talk”. 

“Apparently he jumped from the second floor, from a window.”

She said they were grateful to find he is alive and were praying for families who lost loved ones and those who were injured. 

Jack called on government to act on hijacked buildings in the CBD. 

Her family had tried to convince her brother, a qualified lawyer who has never practiced, to leave the building. He had lived there for about five or six years, she said. 

He was reportedly employed at Unilever. 

Dube is originally from KwaZulu-Natal and moved to Johannesburg to find work. His wife and children are at home in KZN.

Jack said when her brother started living in the building it was not as bad as now. 

“When he started living there it was in a good condition, even when I got to Johannesburg it was in a good condition. I think he came here because it was cheaper. There is no [affordable] place in Johannesburg,” she said. 

Firefighters responded to the blaze in the five-storey building on the corner of Albert and Delvers streets in Marshalltown at about 1.30am. The death toll now stands at 73. 

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

TimesLIVE