Alleged Usindiso building arsonist back in court

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The case against the alleged Usindiso building arsonist, Sithembiso Mdlalose, will resume at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court this morning.

It had been postponed last month to allow for the profiling and verification of the accused.

Mdlalose is facing 76 charges of murder, 86 of attempted murder and a charge of arson.

He was arrested after he confessed to being the one who set the building on fire last year in August which claimed the lives of 77 people.

Scores of others were displaced after losing all their belongings in the blaze.

The building was hijacked and rented out to illegal occupants after it was abandoned by the Social Development Department.

Building not suitable for human habitation 

Last month, the Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso building fire in Marshalltown heard that the building was unsuitable for human habitation.

City of Johannesburg Acting Executive Director for Planning and Development, Eric Raboshaga, said the building is classified as an industrial one according to the Buildings Act.

Raboshaga was addressing the commission’s chairperson.

Raboshaga: “If there’s a factory, can that factory be converted and just be used for residential purposes? Absolutely not chairperson, there are processes that the scheme sets out.”

Chairperson: “What are those processes?”

Raboshaga: “Building plans must be submitted and approved, followed by the issuance of the occupancy certificate by the city before those rights can be exercised.”

Inadequate fire engines

In another session of the commission, Chief Fire Officer of a privately owned fire brigade, Wynand Engelbrecht, testified that the City of Johannesburg did not have adequate fire engines.

His company worked alongside other emergency services when the fire broke out.

Citing the fire brigade regulations, Engelbrecht said every city should have 70 – 120 fire engines, however, he said the City of Joburg only had about three to five fire engines at the time of the incident.

He elaborates in the report below: