Residents of a Hillbrow building that caught fire have painfully recalled a brother and sister’s final moments as they screamed for help while a fire ravaged their home.
The two young children perished when a fire broke out on the first floor of the Florence Nightingale building in Johannesburg’s inner city on Wednesday afternoon. The blaze spread to the second floor, where the children lived, before spreading to the flats above. About six flats were damaged.
The eight-year-old boy and six-year-old girl had been locked inside the flat by their parents, who were at work.
Their identities are still unknown.
The dilapidated building is illegally occupied, with the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Research Institute (RHI) — which works in the precinct — saying it had been condemned and deemed unsafe for human habitation for years.
“The history of this goes all the way back to 2006 when Wits RHI first came into the Hillbrow health precinct. The Florence was already illegally occupied and over the years multiple visits have been made by Johannesburg mayors, [Gauteng] premiers and city managers. There have been multiple conversations at multiple levels in the city of how this building is a fire trap and a disaster waiting to happen.
“People deserve to live in buildings that are safe and fit for human habitation,” the institute said. It has invited the mayor and city manager to a meeting.
When TimesLIVE Premium visited the block on Thursday morning, residents were stepping through the water used by firefighters to extinguish the fire, as they made their way up and down the damp staircase in an effort to “clean up” the scene and assess the damage.
The hallways from the first floor up were dark as electricity was disconnected when the fire broke out. Residents said they usually have access to electricity through an illegal connection to the grid, as well as water — sourced from a nearby hydrant and reaching each flat through pipes.
Everyone tried to break the burglar door but we couldn’t do it. The children were screaming for help behind the locked burglar door.
— Neighbour
The burglar door leading into the children’s home was chained shut. A peek inside laid bare the devastation caused by the blaze. Only a steel structure, which appeared to be a stand, was still intact. Everything else had been razed to the ground.
Their neighbour, who did not want to be identified, opened up on the details around the fire and residents’ valiant efforts to save the children.
“I was sleeping and was woken up by a phone call from my colleagues at the nearby garage where I work, telling me that our building was on fire. When I got out of my flat, I saw the fire and ran to get help.
“Everyone tried to break the burglar door to get to the children but we couldn’t do it. The children were screaming for help behind the locked burglar door,” she recalled.
“It was very painful to not be able to help.”
“I also lost everything and couldn’t run back for anything,” she said.
Tragedy on day children’s usual routine was disrupted
The woman confirmed that the children had been locked in by their parents who were out at the time, but said this was not a usual occurrence. She explained that the siblings were usually left with relatives who also stayed in the building.
Mmathapelo Botsi, who stays in the flat directly above the one where the children stayed, shared her pain at losing all of her and her family’s possessions to the fire.
Botsi, who works for Pikitup, said: “I got a call while I was at work just after 3pm and I immediately got into a taxi. When I arrived outside the building, there were fire trucks and a lot of commotion. I ran to my aunt, who also stays here, who told me ‘Mmathapelo, there’s nothing left’.
“I ran to my flat while they were putting out the fire and saw it for myself,” she said.
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Botsi showed TimesLIVE Premium the destruction to her flat: burnt clothes, blackened walls, destroyed appliances and parts of a spring base are all that remain in the room.
She was still dressed in the uniform she’d left work in on Wednesday and her son is still in his school uniform.
Botsi and her family found shelter in a room on the ground floor but it is unclear for how long they will be able to remain there.
She said the city dropped off mattresses and blankets on Wednesday night. She is hoping it can provide better, alternative housing for her family.
TimesLIVE Premium tried to reach out to the family of the two deceased children. Their uncle, who was at the block of flats, said his sister, the children’s mother, had gone to home affairs to sort out her documents. He declined to speak further on the matter until the rest of the family was available.
Joburg EMS personnel were also present on Thursday morning and director Clement Masinge said the cause of the fire may have been electrical.
“Our colleagues from disaster management are busy with providing relief,” he said.
“We managed to relocate the affected family to a place of safety, where they are being accommodated. We also managed to issue mattresses and blankets on Wednesday night to the other affected families.”
He confirmed that a police investigation had been launched and a case has been opened.
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