Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni’s buildings are ticking fire bombs. The majority, which are at risk because fire safety laws are flouted, are owned by provincial and local governments, say fire-safety inspectors and firefighters.
Provincial infrastructure and development MEC Tasneem Motara confirmed the dire situation.
“You can walk into any local or provincial government building in Gauteng, including the Johannesburg Civic Centre and all public hospitals, and they will not be fire-safety compliant.
“Look at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital fire. None of the sprinklers or smoke detectors went off. Why?”
She said the department ensured government buildings were fire-safety compliant when handed to the departments using them, but the buildings’ users needed to alert the department to firefighting equipment that was broken or needed servicing.
Firefighters and fire-safety inspectors said public hospitals, licensing centres, police stations and civic centres were the worst when it came to flouting the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which governs fire-safety compliance.
In Pretoria, Sunday Times Daily was shown how dozens of fire extinguishers at Pretoria Central Police Station and its barracks had not been serviced in two years, exposed electrical distribution had water leaking past it and fire-escape doors were locked.
At Johannesburg’s Helen Joseph Hospital, sources said a fire catastrophe was narrowly avoided in July. The blaze, said a source, would have destroyed the emergency room. It happened when staff allowed the family of a patient who had died to enter with a burning candle for a cultural ritual.
“They knew they shouldn’t have. That’s because many patients are treated with oxygen, so the gas flows everywhere freely. It’s highly flammable. The family were about to enter the resuscitation room, which was filled with oxygen. It would have been a total disaster. Our extinguishers were inadequate.”
She said the hospital’s fire-safety standards were worse because of Covid-19 regulations.
“Covid-19 wards must be locked off from non-Covid wards to stop the virus spreading. Doors, which would normally allow easy access to escape routes, are now locked. We work in a fire bomb.”
Pictures seen by Sunday Times Daily taken at Baragwanath hospital show fire-escape doors and escape routes locked or blocked, while firefighting equipment and signs pointing to escape routes are missing.
A Johannesburg city building inspector said inspections were meant to be done every three months, but often occurred much later. He said high-rise buildings were a “big problem”.
“The fire brigade does not have the right equipment to fight fires in such buildings.”
Motara said maintenance budgets of national, provincial and local governments had been slashed because of Covid-19. “You can see the impact of this in regards to the Charlotte fire.
“In 2013 we presented National Treasury with a R12bn budget to upgrade all Gauteng public health facilities to ensure compliance. It was deemed too expensive. Now we sit with the reality of that refusal.”
She said their biggest frustrations were colleagues failing to obey safety regulations.
“Daily we find papers and furniture blocking safety signs, exit doors and escape stairwells, with hazardous medical chemicals stored alongside flammable materials like paper towels.”
She said if there were a disaster, an investigation would be conducted to ascertain who was responsible in terms of compliance. “Any entity [found to be] liable can be open to litigation.”
Wynand Engelbrecht, of firefighting company Fire Ops SA, said “at least 50 such buildings in Johannesburg must be immediately demolished”.
“Buildings like the Johannesburg Civic Centre and Langlaagte licensing office are filled with drywall office partitions. They must be approved by municipalities, yet information indicates they are not.
“These buildings’ plans must be obtained to ensure safety signs, sprinklers and escape routes are not blocked.”
Engelbrecht added that a forensic investigation on fire safety of buildings across Gauteng was urgently needed.
Glen Mahwayi, Independent Police Union of SA deputy president, said: “At Pretoria Central police station, which has more than 1,000 civilians and police officers using it daily, fire extinguishers have not been serviced since 2019, sprinklers do not work and fire-escape doors are locked.”
SA Police Union general secretary Tumelo Mogodiseng agreed with Mahwayi, adding that they met the national commissioner last month to discuss safety concerns at police stations.
“We are awaiting feedback.”
Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA’s Gauteng leader Bongani Mazibuko said they had raised the issue of safety of buildings for years.
“Even before the Bank of Lisbon fire happened it was a challenge between unions and the department of health over the non-adherence to health and safety standards.”
Mazibuko said a few weeks ago they received complaints from the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria.
“People have had to move from the third floor to level 9 because the lifts were not working. It also affected patients because patients have to go to different levels for operations and surgical procedures, and that has a bearing on patient safety as well,” he said.
He said they had received safety complaints about nurses’ residences from healthcare workers at Helen Joseph Hospital and Hillbrow Community Health Centre.
Mazibuko said for the situation to improve, the department of health had to appoint people to investigate occupational health and safety.
“We are also busy following up on policies where safety protocols were not correctly implemented.”
He said there should be consequences for managers not implementing health safety correctly in the province.
SA Medical Association (Sama) chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee said it was unacceptable that the healthcare systems were not up to standard.
“We have been calling on the department of health for some time now to improve the infrastructures in hospitals, especially after the Charlotte Maxeke incident, which showed that there wasn’t proper maintenance done.
“These things are unacceptable. The people who are responsible should be held accountable and there should be a way forward.”
Tshwane emergency services department spokesperson Thabo Mabaso said the city, which was meant to have 106 fire-safety officials, including administrative staff, had 41.
He said these officers conducted 1,423 inspections and fire-risk assessments in the 2020-2021 financial year, up from 1,329 inspections the previous financial year.
“From these [inspections], 591 non-compliant notices were issued between June 2020 and August 2021, along with 832 compliant notices.
“Of the non-compliant buildings, 21 belonged to the provincial government, three to the national government and 312 to private owners.”
Gauteng provincial government spokesperson Thabo Masebe referred questions to the Gauteng department of infrastructure and development.
City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane failed to respond to questions, as did national police spokesperson Col Athlenda Mathe.
Gauteng health department spokesperson Philani Mhlungu said he would revert when questioned on compliance issues.
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