How the burnt Marshalltown building allegedly got hijacked from an NGO

The building that caught fire in Johannesburg on Thursday was once a women’s shelter for abused victims, but a small group of them allegedly hijacked the building from the nonprofit organisation through threats and aggression.

This is according to Pastor Glyn Weldschidt, one of the directors of Usindiso Shelter, a nonprofit organisation (NPO) that operated for more than a decade at the Central Pass Office building in Marshalltown, Johannesburg.

The building is owned by the City of Johannesburg and is a heritage site under the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. It was the infamous checkpoint where the “dompas” was issued under apartheid.

In 1954 it opened as the non-European affairs department and was extended in the 1960s before it was converted into a women’s hostel in 1994 and renamed Usindiso Women’s Shelter.

The shelter was for women who were victims of gender-based violence and housed just under 100 women and children at a time. The aim of housing them was to assist with skills development, counselling and therapy, drafting CVs and applying for jobs.

At this point, the building has no water, no electricity and everything is illegally connected and the level of lawlessness is quite high.

—  Floyd Brink, Johannesburg city manager

After achieving those milestones and the women were back on their feet, they would be assessed by social workers before they left the shelter, which usually happened after six to eight months.

Weldschidt said the building was in “pristine” condition. It was well-kept with showers and all equipment in working order and the shelter brought in people to repair the building. As the lessees of the building, they paid for water and electricity.

But according to Weldschidt, things took a turn when a group of the women housed at the shelter turned on the management by refusing to leave. Instead, they started making threats to the organisation, he said.

“It was really quite all of a sudden. We had written some letters to some of the ladies to say their time is up and they decided they are going to do their own thing. It is alleged that these ladies had connections with [a certain political party] and [they threatened that this party] was going to come and throw us out,” Weldschidt said. 

“A small group of ladies that got into the shelter seemed to have stirred other ladies against the director and founder of the organisation. They even tried to threaten us with the EFF and told us to leave or face the consequences. We tried to have a meeting to negotiate the situation but we failed. We alerted the City of Johannesburg and the mayor’s office, but no-one could help us,” he said.

After another meeting to try to calm the situation, Weldschidt said it turned to be an aggressive gathering, forcing Usindiso’s management to abandon the building and essentially close the shelter.

“The type of violent stuff thrown at us verbally, we didn’t want to wait about and see what happens.”

On Thursday morning, at least 73 people living in that building died when it caught fire in the early hours of the morning. More than 50 suffered injuries and were hospitalised.

The hijacked building had instead turned into a squatter camp with shacks built inside. Most of its occupiers are low-income workers, informal workers and SA and foreign nationals.

Johannesburg city manager Floyd Brink said the building was raided before by the city’s group of forensic investigation services department where a preliminary investigation report was handed to police for prosecution.

“It’s quite difficult where we are with that process, but there is a lot that has been done, such as finding out who is in the building and why they are there. We definitely have some people who have been collecting rent and we are not sure on behalf of who.

“At this point, the building has no water, no electricity and everything is illegally connected and the level of lawlessness is quite high,” he said.