Marshalltown fire: Legal proceedings stall as court is adjourned and commission concludes first phase of work

A displaced Marshalltown fire victim at the Wembley Stadium Homeless Centre in September 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

By Michelle Banda

1 Apr 2024

The court case against the suspect who allegedly started the fire is delayed with a warning to the defence over dragging its heels. The commission, meanwhile, wraps up the first part of its investigation into the Usindiso fire, which killed 76 people last year.

On Wednesday, 27 March, the scheduled court appearance of Sithembiso Lawrence Mdlalose, the individual who confessed in January 2024 to starting the 2023 Usindiso building fire in Marshalltown, Johannesburg, was once again postponed, highlighting ongoing legal complexities.

Meanwhile, the first part of the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into the fire, which has been examining the circumstances surrounding the tragic event, has been concluded.

Legal proceedings on ice

Marshalltown fire wrap, Usindiso The burnt-out shell of the Usindiso building at 80 Albert Street, Marshalltown, shortly after the blaze that killed 76 people. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

During Mdlalose’s recent appearance at the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on 27 March, proceedings were adjourned for two weeks to allow for further investigations and to await the presence of the defence lawyer.

State Advocate Tshepo Mahange kaMzizi issued a notice of progress delay, warning of potential consequences if the defence failed to cooperate. The presiding magistrate emphasised the urgency of the matter, expressing concern over the defence’s apparent lack of commitment.

“Defence seems he is not very interested in the case,” she said.

This is not the first postponement in the case; similar delays occurred on 6 and 22 March 2024, following Mdlalose’s decision to retract his confession and to enter a plea of not guilty. His legal representative, Dumisani Mabunda, cited misinformation and lack of legal counsel during the initial confession as grounds for the plea change.

Read in Daily Maverick: Facing 76 murder counts, man accused of starting Usindiso building fire retracts confession

Despite Mdlalose’s multiple confessions, the case remains mired in uncertainty.

In December 2023, Mdlalose first testified to being a victim and eyewitness to the fire. However, during the January 2024 proceedings of the commission of inquiry, he admitted to starting the fire, claiming to have wanted to conceal a prior murder in the Usindiso building.

Although Mdlalose reaffirmed this confession before the presiding magistrate, he recanted it in early March, opting for a plea of not guilty, which his legal representative intends to submit to the State for consideration.

“The matter is still under investigation. The confession is part of the contents the State must give us once the investigations are finalised,” Mabunda told Daily Maverick.

Human rights activist Andrew Chinnah, who has been closely involved with the Marshalltown fire victims, expressed dismay at the prolonged process.

“Over 200 days later, there are still delays in this case and no sense of accountability for the 76 lives lost and over 500 displaced,” he said.

Chinnah questioned the adequacy of resources allocated to the investigation, highlighting the victims’ ongoing trauma and the need for swift justice.

“The commission is now relying on witness statements and the experts from the City to come up with some answers about how the fire started or who is responsible for the displaced families. It would be a great justice if the case got to the bottom of the truth. The delay in justice is like a retraumatisation of the fire victims.”

Commission update

Usindiso wrap, Marshalltown fire The aftermath outside 80 Albert Street, Marshalltown, Johannesburg, where a devastating fire on 31 August 2023 claimed the lives of more than 70 people living there. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

It’s been five months since the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry was set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deadly fire that killed more than 70 people on 31 August 2023. The commission began its work on 26 October 2023 hearing chilling details from the City emergency services, who painted a grim picture of the state of the building.

Emergency Medical Services acting chief Rapulane Monageng called the fire at 80 Albert Street a “pure accident” instead of a disaster.

Monageng said the shelters inside the building were made of highly flammable material such as wood panels, plywood, chipboard and plastic.

He said the service had received the call about the fire at about 1.25am, and the first responders, led by platoon commander Lucas Thipe, arrived at 80 Albert Street at 1.36am on that fateful day.

However, testimonies by former residents of Usindiso and fire victims suggest that the first call was made at midnight, but the first truck arrived between 2am and 3am.

In particular, S’phamandla “Masgewuza” Sibiya told the commission: “The City of Johannesburg and emergency services failed us … they delayed response until 2.30 to 3am, with the first truck arriving with no water, and we were also told the engine pump was not working. The second truck had a half tank of water and they had to wait because the fire was huge and the amount of water they had was not enough. We waited for another 45 minutes to an hour for the other trucks. By the time the firefighters started putting down the fire, it was almost dawn. Mind you, the fire had started at around 12.10am. If the emergency services were fully prepared a lot of lives would have been saved together with their belongings.”

It was further revealed before the commission that a recommendation in 2018 suggesting that the building be shut down as it was unstable was never heeded nor was there an effort to find alternative accommodation for the residents despite the building being open to condemnation for not adhering to the City bylaws dealing with unpaid bills since 2015.

The Usindiso building owes Johannesburg Water R4.3-million for unpaid services. This was confirmed by Siphindile Sikhosana, a senior representative of Johannesburg Water, who also told the commission that the last water payment on the Usindiso account was in February 2012.

A City Power official identified as Mr Khosa also told the commission that the Usindiso building owed the municipality more than R4-million in unpaid electricity bills.

“The Usindiso building sometime in 2000 is when we started having a relationship with them in terms of supplying the building with electricity. But also as per our records, it appears that on the 25th of September 2021 that’s when credit control started issuing the preterm notice to the customer to pay off their debt, and if not the power would be cut. At the time the Usindiso ministries owed City Power, which by August 2023 had accumulated to an amount of R4.4-million,” he said.

“Before the fire a level two disconnection on the 27th of May 2021 was done at Usindiso but found the meter was already tampered [with] and that the connection was already illegal. However, the disconnection we initiated was a success, but later the residents reconnected. Another disconnection, this time stage 3, with the company of law enforcers in the City including JMPD and SAPS was done on the 27th of November 2022.”

When asked by the commission why Usindiso residents were not evicted or relocated as the City had an obligation to provide adequate housing, the City’s executive director of human settlements, Patrick Phophi, said his department was not involved in Usindiso and that information was not shared with the department nor was a request made for temporary emergency accommodation.

Background

Joburg fire Grieving relatives of deceased Marshalltown fire victims near the burnt-out building in Johannesburg on 31 August 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

The building at 80 Albert Street was leased to Usindiso Ministries – an NGO offering a haven for abused women and children, managed by Pastor Jay Bradley – from 1 July 2003 for nine years and 11 months. The NGO was funded and monitored by the provincial Department of Social Development

Usindiso’s lease expired in 2013 and was never renewed because of the NGO’s lack of funding, according to Helen Botes, CEO of the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), which is tasked with managing City-owned properties.

The commission also learnt that the building was located in an industrial zone, but despite the lease, had never been rezoned for residential use; nor was there a certificate of occupation for residential purposes. During apartheid, the building was used as a pass office.

An estimated 1,000 residents are claimed to have lived in the building at the time of the fire. The building was hijacked between 2019 and 2020.

Kenneth Dube, a former resident, testified before the commission that conditions in the building were good until it became overcrowded. He said there was a lot of theft of taps and gates, and they were sold to scrap yards. “Crime was a norm. You would feel free only when you are outside the building, but when you had to go back inside, that was when you would get nervous because you wouldn’t know if you would make it safely into your room.”

Read in Daily Maverick: From safe haven to hijacked den – Marshalltown fire inquiry hears of building horrors as confessed arsonist appears in court

City of Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda told the commission: “The deadly fire at Usindiso is a painful reminder of inhumane conditions under which some residents of the City have to endure in search for opportunities.”

Gwamanda admitted that the City was aware and actively in the process of dealing with the situation at Usindiso because of its serial non-compliance.

“In 2019 when a joint multi-department operation happened, they took measures, but I think it was then that they could have done more in the sense that they left it to someone else’s responsibility. But the fact still remains, our bylaw enforcement needed to be enforced to the maximum.”

The commission’s evidence leader, Advocate Ishmael Semenya, asked Gwamanda if the City should be held accountable for the fire.

“The issue of Usindiso should not be divorced from the criminal element that played a role in us ending up with this situation. I agree on the level that we should have done more. Lawlessness in Joburg is a general problem that the administration is taking very seriously. It should not have gotten to the point where it was,” Gwamanda said.

He added that a “sub-mayoral committee” was established to deal with the issue of the so-called bad/hijacked buildings and that the City was employing a block-by-block approach.

Lives disrupted

A displaced Marshalltown fire victim at the Wembley Stadium Homeless Centre, Johannesburg, in September 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Colonel Andile Mankayi, the investigating officer in the matter, told the commission that of the 76 deceased, 11 bodies could still not be identified, despite various methods being employed to do so.

At least 40 families affected by the Marshalltown fire – predominantly South Africans – are still living in temporary accommodation in Denver, where they have resided since November 2023. Foreign nationals affected by the fire were sent to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp, where they will remain until the conclusion of the commission, as they are witnesses to the event.

After that, they will be deported to their countries of origin.

The first part of the two-part commission concluded on Wednesday, 27 March, with part B, which will look into the prevalence of hijacked buildings in the City of Johannesburg, set to start in May. DM

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Maverick Citizen

Legal proceedings on ice

Commission update

Background

Lives disrupted