On Tuesday, a witness dropped a bombshell at the commission of inquiry into the fire at the Usindiso building in Johannesburg, which claimed 77 lives on 31 August 2023.

According to Eyewitness News, the individual testified in camera that the fire was started after he attempted to conceal a murder he had committed. The commission ordered that the witness’s identity must not be revealed.

A witness told the commission of inquiry that he started the devastating fire at the Usindiso building in Marshalltown, Johannesburg, that claimed 77 lives on 31 August 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

The witness testified that on 31 August he assaulted, strangled and set alight a man who had been brought to the ground floor of the building at 80 Albert Street, Marshalltown. According to the witness, there were more bodies in the building, even before the fire started.

After purchasing petrol, sprinkling it on the body of the deceased and throwing a matchstick on the petrol to ignite it, the witness said he fled from the building.

When he set the building on fire, the witness said, he was high on crystal meth, which he had obtained from a drug lord in the Usindiso building, whom he referred to as the “big boss”.

The witness reportedly broke down in tears as he told the panel of commissioners that he frequently prayed that God would punish him for his actions, which led to dozens of deaths.

A police K9 unit patrols outside 80 Albert Street in Marshalltown, Johannesburg, soon after of the horrific inferno that left 77 people dead and scores more injured early on Thursday, 31 August 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

The commission of inquiry into the fire, led by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe, was launched in October 2023 and resumed on 17 January.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Most survivors of Johannesburg’s Albert St fire are South Africans, action group reveals, calls for urgent intervention

The blaze was said to be one of Africa’s deadliest fires by the chief fire officer at the private firefighting company Fire Ops South Africa, Wynand Engelbrecht. During his testimony on 17 January, Engelbrecht spoke about the city’s inability to protect residents and firefighters from fire as responders were not provided with adequate equipment to fight the fire and save lives.

“The condition of the building was not unlike that of hundreds of other such buildings in the city or the country. The profile is one of general neglect and total disregard for fire safety and thus the preservation of life,” he said.

According to Eyewitness News, the inquiry’s evidence leader, Ishmael Semenya SC, said the statements made by witnesses during the inquiry may not be used against them in court, or during the South African Police Service’s investigation into the fire.

City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services firefighters respond to the Usindiso building fire in Marshalltown, Johannesburg. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

However, police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed that a suspect had been arrested for starting the fire and would soon appear in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court.

“The 29-year-old man was arrested after he confessed at the commission of inquiry for being involved in starting the tragic fire. He is expected to appear before a Johannesburg court soon on charges of arson, 76 counts of murder and 120 counts of attempted murder.”

‘Harrowing account’

Human rights activist Andy Chinnah said the testimony from the witness on Tuesday was a “harrowing account”.

City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services firefighters respond to the Usindiso building fire in Marshalltown, Johannesburg on 31 August 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

The witness said that he was a drug addict and that a drug lord operated on each floor of the building.

“There was a drug lord responsible for the ground floor and there was a room there was that called the slaghuis/butchering room, where they would take anybody that the drug lord had a problem with and beat them up and interrogate them,” said Chinnah.

On 31 August, the witness was asked by the drug lord to take an individual, whose head was covered with a sack, to be dealt with in the slaghuis. After assaulting the man, the witness left the room and returned later. He removed the sack and realised he knew the victim.

“He went to speak to the person he had just beaten up, and he was shocked when he pulled the sack from the person’s head to find that this individual was actually from his village and he knew him and his family,” Chinnah said.

“He [the witness] felt that he couldn’t let him live, so he strangled him to death then he went out of the building to the BP petrol station, got petrol, came back and burnt his body, and then walked out of the building, not realising the rest of the building would catch alight.”

The witness said there were more bodies in the building, even before the fire started, which Chinnah said he had heard from the onset of the inquiry. 

“It is something that I’ve heard from the very beginning. People have told us that even before the fire, there were individuals dead in the basement. There are corpses that have been burnt beyond recognition and we are trying to determine whether the bones that were found are of the victims of the fire or victims prior to the fire,” he said. 

Victims unaccounted for

In November, the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg ruled that the City of Johannesburg had to improve living conditions at an alternative accommodation site in Denver for survivors of the fire. Key improvements included replacing four taps, installing prepaid electricity, finalising additional ablution facilities (including 20 sanitation units, to be serviced weekly), and appointing a security company to prevent land invasions.

Chinnah said the living conditions had not improved and the site was flooded two weeks ago. They had called the City of Johannesburg to rectify the drainage problem.

“We are sitting with 42 bodies which we are told are still in the morgue. We hear from friends and family saying, ‘I haven’t heard from my neighbour since that night.’ We know of individuals that have not been accounted for,” he said.

Chinnah said that the inquiry would not sit on Wednesday and commissioners would conduct an inspection of the building on Thursday afternoon. DM