Father gives heart-wrenching account of how he lost his toddler in the Usindiso blaze

A KwaZulu-Natal father has narrated how he lost his two-year-old daughter in the inferno that engulfed the hijacked Usindiso building last year.

His heart-wrenching testimony was read out in the commission of inquiry looking into the fire that claimed 77 lives in August 2023. 

The commission continued on Tuesday after some undisclosed testimonies took place in camera.

Siphiwe Ngcobo, 39, from Nongoma, said he was manning his spaza shop inside the building at about 1am when he heard screams.

He lived with his partner and three children in the one room.

“When I heard the screams I ran towards the entrance on Delvers Street to rescue my partner, and I could not get further than the first floor because people were rushing down the opposite direction carrying personal items like mattresses. The smell of smoke was getting strong and there was a stampede of people trampling on each other. 

“There was chaos and confusion in and around the building. I stood outside the building and tried to call my partner to get him to throw the children from upstairs to the roadside, the same way as others were rescuing children thrown from upstairs by catching them downstairs. I failed.

I stood outside the building and tried to call my partner to get him to throw the children from upstairs to the roadside, the same way as others were rescuing children thrown from upstairs by catching them downstairs. I failed.

—  Sphiwe Ngcobo, resident of Usindiso

“I came across someone who told me that my five-year-old was in an ambulance. I managed to locate her. She was gasping, struggled to breathe, filled with foam in the mouth. I continued to search for the two-year-old and my partner. I eventually found my partner without the two-year-old. My partner was a little dizzy, with burns on his feet and told me someone told him to leave the child behind,” said Ngcobo.

Ngcobo said he stood outside the burning building and could see his  room engulfed in flames.

“My brother subsequently came out carrying my two-year-old in his arms. His temperature was high and face covered in soot. After several attempts to resuscitate her, the paramedics eventually put the child aside and told us the child had passed,” he added.

His statement described the dire conditions they lived in. He said his room accommodated just one bed which he shared with his partner and children.

“A sponge was used by my eldest child for sleeping. We had a one-plate stove, a fridge, one cupboard with two doors and two shelves and a TV. The size of the room was small, such that it could not accommodate another mattress, for instance,” he said. 

The hijacked building did not have a legal electricity connection. 

“The building seemed to obtain electricity from the same source supplying adjacent Marshall buildings. I say so because our building was off when there was no supply in the Marshall buildings. I did not pay for prepaid electricity. My room had an illegal connection to electricity supply. I received water from a fire extinguisher hose nearby. I was not paying rent to anyone. I am aware that some occupants paid rent to landlords, I do not know them,” he said. 

The Usindiso tragedy has since been characterised as one of Africa’s deadliest fires by the chief fire officer at Fire Opps South Africa, Wynand Engelbrecht.

Scores of people found themselves trapped inside the building where makeshift shacks and rooms had been constructed, even along the passages. 

Some people jumped to their deaths, others were burnt and others died from smoke inhalation inside the building.

Last week, the commission of inquiry into the fire heard there were still 11 bodies still unidentified. It remains unclear whether these bodies are classified “unclaimed” because of DNA result delays or because their relatives have not yet come forward for DNA analysis.

The conclusion of part A of the hearing is expected at the end of March 2024, and the report is due at the end of April 2024. The conclusion of the hearing for part B — which will deal with the prevalence of hijacked buildings in the Johannesburg inner city — is due to be completed at the end of July 2024, and the report is due at the end of August 2024.