Residents tell of faulty transformers at Joburg building where 74 died in blaze

As authorities continue to probe the cause of the deadly blaze in a building in the Johannesburg CBD, a resident has told TimesLIVE he believes the fire could have been the result of an electric fault. 

Speaking to TimesLIVE from the Diepkloof mortuary where he had gone to identify the bodies of his brother, his wife and their two children, Moses White said there was an obvious electrical risk at the building. 

“In the basement, there were three transformers. Every time we went there to connect [after losing power] there was oil leaking from the transformers, White said. “Sometimes when the guys would try to connect the electricity there would be sparks. I saw two guys get burnt when something burst in the transformers.”

White, who has lived in the building since 2018, said it had many illegal electricity connections which he suspects could have also led to the fire. 

White, who hails from Malawi, had on Wednesday given his DNA in the hope that the remains of his four relatives could be traced.

“In our culture I can marry my uncle's daughter. So my brother is married to our uncle's daughter. That should help with identification,” he said.

Dozens of people were injured while 74 were confirmed dead after the fire that razed the five-storey building which is believed to have been hijacked.

The building was initially used as a shelter for abused woman until several years ago when the NPO which was running it was allegedly overpowered by hijackers. 

SowetanLIVE reported how the City of Johannesburg last did an inspection of the CBD building four years ago.

Acting chief of Joburg emergency medical services Rapulane Monageng said the building was inspected in 2019, the year it was hijacked.

“Before that could happen, fire safety would go in with other stakeholders from the city and make sure we tick all the boxes that the building is compliant.

“It was inspected in June 2019. We never went back to inspect the building,” said Monageng.

“We wouldn’t want to go back in there in a hostile environment. There were tussles [with building hijackers] in between and no one would want to see us come and enforce [the law] in that space.”

The metro said it had tried to evict people but was faced with litigation.

TimesLIVE