The Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Community on Safety Mgcini Tshwaku says they will soon start to aggressively clean up hijacked buildings in the City.
This comes after more than 70 people were killed in a fire in a five-storey hijacked building in the city’s CBD on Thursday morning.
Most of the injured have since been discharged from hospitals across Johannesburg.
Tshwaku visited the building on Friday morning .
“We are going to a building called the Remington. I want to take a picture and video and show you guys what we are doing. This is what we did at the other one, you audit first, then you seal it and make sure whoever goes out never comes in again. So it is a bit costly for the city because you must have security there 24 hours guarding the place,” he says.
The City of Johannesburg has identified a number of buildings around the city in which affected families of the fire will be accommodated.
The Johannesburg Emergency Services’ Rapulane Monageng says the gutted building is unsafe for people to live in.
Rapulane says, “The building is still not safe for human habitation, up until the fire engineering and structural engineering experts have assessed, and also after the police having done what is supposed to be done. As we have indicated earlier on all the affected families they will be sent to various shelters that will be inspected and ensure they meet the requirements going forward.”
Bodies have been taken to the Hillbrow and Diepkloof government mortuaries from where they can be identified from Thursday morning.
VIDEO: K-9 unit to assist with search and recovery operations at Marshalltown building:
GALLERY: Johannesburg building fire:
Additional reporting by Phanuel Shuma.
