Gauteng Infrastructure Development MEC Jacob Mamabolo has promised to take full responsibility for the deadly Bank of Lisbon building fire, should investigations find he was at fault.

The building in the Johannesburg CBD, which housed three Gauteng government departments, including Mamabolo’s, was found to be non-safety compliant before yesterday’s blaze.

It cost the lives of three firefighters – and left several others injured.

Mamabolo sasy he won’t try to avoid blame.

“Once the report is out, and it comes back pointing out that there’s anything wrong done on my side, the Premier will deal with the matter. But I’m prepared to take full responsibility. And the law must take its course. If there’s anything wrong that we have done… no excuse on that. If it points out that Mamabolo has done something wrong, then I must take the fall.”

Mamabolo says staff will only return to work once an alternative building is found.

“We have had a preliminary meeting this morning (Thursday) with the team that is supporting us, the team that compiled the report for us.  We have agreed on another meeting at five this afternoon with the team, to come back and take us through the detail of this report, to indicate the condition of each facility. We will not rush workers back into any building; we will make sure that the buildings are compliant. Starting from next week, we will start with finding alternative buildings,” says Mamabolo.

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