An inquiry has held Johannesburg authorities responsible for neglect following a tragic 2023 fire that claimed 76 lives in a dilapidated building in the heart of the city.
The incident, which shook South Africa, highlighted the dire conditions in many of the city’s so-called “hijacked” buildings, where criminal cartels illegally rent out rooms in structures unfit for human habitation.
Sibongile Majavava, a 34-year-old South African, now finds herself living in a small tent at the Wembley Stadium homeless shelter, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. This is her third temporary home since the deadly fire ripped through the Usindiso building where she lived. Alongside her Tanzanian partner, Muhdi, and their three-year-old child, Majavava is struggling to rebuild her life.
The August 2023 blaze in the dilapidated Usindiso building not only left 76 people dead but also displaced hundreds, including Majavava’s family. The shelter, a former sports stadium now filled with tents and makeshift dwellings, is far from ideal. A year after the fire, the couple feels forgotten by the very people they hoped would assist them.
“Life here is very hard,” Majavava admitted, her voice tinged with despair. With no income, she worries constantly about her child’s safety in the crime-ridden shelter. Drug needles and other hazardous debris litter the ground, making it dangerous for her toddler to play outside.
City Slammed for Neglecting Its Homeless Residents
The Wembley shelter, which also houses survivors of the 2017 Cape York building fire and other evictees, is a stark reminder of Johannesburg’s housing crisis. Installed in 2018, the government provided container homes, water, electricity, and sanitation facilities.
However, conditions have deteriorated significantly over time. The shelter is plagued by heaps of rubbish, crime, and a sense of hopelessness among its residents.
Housing activists, like Siyabonga Mahlangu from the Inner City Federation (ICF), are outspoken about the city’s failure. “The city has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide decent housing,” Mahlangu asserted.
He stated that while the conditions in hijacked buildings are deplorable, the city’s alternative solutions, such as the Wembley shelter, are hardly an improvement. “The conditions at Wembley are not good at all,” Mahlangu says, describing the tents as comparable to living on the streets.
Building fires in downtown Johannesburg have become alarmingly common, with hundreds of hijacked buildings under the control of criminal syndicates. These gangs divide the buildings into small rooms and rent them out illegally to those with nowhere else to turn.
The Usindiso building was one such structure, housing around 200 shacks made from highly flammable materials at the time of the deadly fire.
The commission of inquiry into the blaze, which released its report in recently, found the City of Johannesburg liable for neglecting Usindiso and 200 other similarly dilapidated buildings across the city.
The report condemned the city’s failure to act, highlighting the broader issue of Johannesburg’s responsibility to provide safe, alternative housing for its most vulnerable residents.
Edward Molopi, a senior advocate with the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI), emphasized the legal obligations of the city.
“According to law, if eviction is going to end up in homelessness, the city is supposed to provide alternative accommodation,” Molopi explains. However, he added, “the municipality has failed to maintain and upkeep the premises.”
Meanwhile, Sibonelo Mtshali, spokesperson for the City of Johannesburg’s human settlements department, said a member of the mayoral office is “still reviewing the situation at the Usindiso building and homeless shelters” following the recent change in office.
As Johannesburg grapples with the aftermath of the Usindiso fire, the city’s response — or lack thereof — has come under intense scrutiny. For the residents of the Wembley shelter, the future remains uncertain, as they continue to wait for the support they desperately need.
