The Gauteng Member of Executive Council (MEC) for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile, has shared more details about the Johannesburg inferno in South Africa, saying the city-owned building was taken over by some unknown persons.
The MEC shared on X (Twitter), that the building, owned by municipal authorities, was originally leased to a non-profit organisation (NGO) and intended for the sheltering of displaced women who suffered abuse, but was later “hijacked”.
He said it was discovered that the occupants of the 5-storey building were being compelled to pay rent by some persons, hence, the South African Police Service (SAPS) was asked to look into the issue.
Maile said that as a result of the discoveries, the NGO was closed down.
His words:
“It is unfortunate that we have to keep responding to situations of this nature, where a building is leased for the purpose of rehabilitating society. Because it was an NGO that dealt specifically with displaced women.
“A while back, it was raided by the city with SAPS and home affairs, with arrests made. It was also found that there were people who were collecting rent, and therefore SAPS was delegated to deal with the matter,” he said.
He also said support would be provided for the victims of the fire incident.
“There will be social relief. We have already identified three buildings that the surviving victims will be assigned to. We have agreed that we are not going to deal with people on the basis of nationality. At this point, everyone who is affected will be given humanitarian assistance.
“This is a tragedy that affects people, irrespective of nationality.”
At least 70 people have been reported dead following the Johannesburg inferno tragedy, which started overnight in one of the building blocks.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for an investigation into what caused the inferno. According to him, the findings will help in preventing similar future tragedies.