Another Fire Engulfs Johannesburg CBD Hijacked Building, Leaving Residents Homeless

• Another fire has engulfed a building in Johannesburg's CBD, occurring on the same street where a previous fire led to the tragic deaths of over 70 people
• The recent fire broke out in a former factory that had been illegally occupied by residents who had constructed shacks inside
• South Africans are worried about the recent fires and want to know what government's next steps are

JOHANNESBURG - Another Johannesburg CBD building has been gutted by flames on the same street where over 70 people in a hijacked building died in a fire on 31 August.

The recent fire happened on the same street as the Usindiso Building on Delver Street in Marshalltown on Friday morning, 15 September, according to eNCA.

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Joburg city officials rush to burning hijacked building

According to the City of Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety Commissar, Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, the fire broke out at around 10am.

Tshwaku said the building used to be a factory and people who unlawfully occupied the space built shacks inside the building.

In a clip posted by the EFF's official X account, Tshwaku said one of the shacks on the ground floor caught on fire, which spread. The MMC said emergency medical services (EMS) responded quickly to the disaster and extinguished the fire.

"The EMS was here, so the fire has been put out, but there is going to be some investigation in terms of what really happened. We are actually happy with the EMS that has responded on time," said Tshwaku.

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Residents living in hijacked building now displaced

The evacuated residents of the hijacked building are now homeless following the flames.

According to The Citizen, the residents were paying a "landlord" R1 200 a month to live in the building, which appears to have been in a deplorable condition.

City manager Floyd Brink said although the fire has been put out, residents would not be allowed to return to the building. Tskwaku says they will be placed in temporary accommodation.

South Africans worried about Joburg fires

@zwidenyapT said:

"Demolish these death traps."

@TsipaA said:

"I thought y’all were closing them down in the past two weeks. You didn’t spot this one?"

@Sbu_Fo said:

"Is it that expensive to demolish buildings, or dololo political will?"

@WearLoveNow said:

"OMG, AGAIN? Lord, have mercy!"

@CynZA01 said:

"I always said Joburg is burning, but I meant it literally. Now it's literally happening, yhooo."

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@Auti_eSharp said:

"Johannesburg CBD is turning from the City of Gold into the City of Fire."

Desperate mother frantically searches for daughter

Briefly News previously reported that a devastated mother is clinging to hope that her 24-year-old daughter is alive after the Johannesburg CBD building she lives in was gutted by a fire in the early hours of Thursday, 31 August.

Treasurelee Shuping rushed to the scene after she received word that a blaze had razed the five-story building. Her daughter, Matshidiso Zanele, had allegedly been living in the hijacked building for over a year.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Shuping revealed that the building was in a deplorable state and not fit for people to live in. She tried to get Zanele to move back home, but the woman refused.

Source: Briefly News