Lawyers keen to cross-examine witnesses in Usindiso fire inquiry

The city of Joburg's immediate response to the fire that gutted the hijacked Usindiso building may soon come under scrutiny as the lawyers representing some of the victims raised the issue of cross-examining witnesses testifying before the commission of inquiry.

The commission finally got under way on Thursday morning in Parktown after a three-week delay. It is chaired by retired judge Sisi Khampepe, assisted by advocate Thulani Makhubela and Vuyelwa Mathilda Mabena.

The inquiry's focus will be split into two parts; the first will focus on the circumstances that led to the fire and the person who should be held accountable while the second will look into the prevalence of hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg inner city.

The commission mostly heard testimony from some of the first responders from Johannesburg emergency management services [EMS], who detailed the situation on the ground on the day of fire and in the aftermath.

The first to testify, led by evidence leader Ishmael Semenya, was the EMS acting chief Rapulane Monageng and it was after his evidence that legal teams raised their interest in cross-examining him and possibly other witnesses with Semenya.

Numerous law firms introduced themselves before proceedings got under way, explaining that they were there on behalf of the numerous stakeholders including victims of the fire, the city and inner-city dwellers.

Outlining this, Semenya said: “Cross-examination, in terms of the rules, is not a right. It is a request that must be directed to the chair and upon proper consideration of the motivation for it, the chair will give direction.

“But as a matter of course, I have made it plain that we will, in the future, share all the material of witnesses and/or material that will serve before the commission in advance to all the legal teams so that ... they are able to formulate whatever applications they intend to formulate and have the chair make the rulings that are appropriate,” he said.

The commission then heard testimony from the deputy director in the EMS's public safety division, Fana Mnguni, who spoke on the structural fire report he helped compile for the public safety MMC.

His colleague, Lucas Thipe, a platoon commander at Fairview fire station, also testified before the commission adjourned for the day. He confirmed that he was the first responder and the most senior person at the scene upon his arrival.

Thipe mostly corroborated Monageng's assertions around the difficulties in accessing the building.

“On the corners of Delvers and Albert streets, there was a cage of steel [through which] we tried to gain entrance but it was locked. So we had to identify a second entry, which was further east; there was an entrance there but it was not used by the building's occupants, they used to use it for parking.

“So we attempted to enter there [but] ... it was also locked. So we [ended up] doing forcible entry, where we cut through the gates to gain entry,” he explained.

Thipe shared a heartbreaking story of a distraught mother's plea for firefighters to let her return to the building to find her two-year-old child.

Earlier on, Monageng told the commission that Usindiso became a “fire time bomb” after EMS officials failed on numerous occasions to carry out an inspection at the building.

He explained that the last attempt was in 2019 when officials went to the building but could not locate the owner, though the building is owned by the city.

“Unfortunately, in this case not only twice but on different attempts we couldn't find any owner of the building. There were residents in Usindiso but they couldn't point to the owner. Yes we knew it belonged to the city but it's a challenge as well.

“Not only that, we said to ourselves 'let's go there and make sure members actually comply'. We were chased away in 2019 when we attempted to assist in this manner,” he said.

He shared details of the condition of the building when officials went to do an inspection after the fire.

He explained that they discovered rooms within rooms and that residents had used combustible materials, such as wood and plastic, to construct rooms. There were also no fire extinguishers inside the building, the fire hoses were tampered with or removed and most of the evacuation routes were boarded up or sealed off with makeshift burglar doors. In one instance, a bathroom was converted into a spaza shop that had an illegal electricity connection.

“Stairwells were converted to become living rooms. Brick and mortar was used to block off the stairwell [to create] someone's room. At the base of the stairwell, there [was] a base mattress, which has since burnt, and through investigation, we realised that this was someone's room.

“On the other side of the building, you'll also see a door frame with a welded metal piece, which had a board behind it so that if someone wants to come from the third floor, they can't access the second floor because someone lives [on the staircase]. That on its own is a problem for us because when we want to evacuate during emergencies ... this route is blocked. You're forced now to go to the western side of the building and, unfortunately, it happened that members were forced to go there and some of them perished on the route. Literally, this rendered a hindrance, blocking off emergency routes ... and not a simple hindrance but one of bricks and mortar,” he said.

The commission continues on Tuesday. 

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