32 survivors of Usindiso building fire deported
The group was among hundreds of people displaced when a raging blaze gutted their building, killing 77 people in 2023.
Johannesburg emergency services attend to a fire in the Johannesburg CBD on 31 August 2023. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Eyewitness News has learnt that 32 survivors of the tragic Usindiso building fire have recently been deported.
The group was among hundreds of people displaced when a raging blaze gutted their building, killing 77 people in 2023.
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It turned out that the 32 undocumented migrants were detained at the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp in December before they were deported.
The 32 undocumented migrants were initially set to be deported in December, but the inquiry probing the Marshalltown fire needed them to stay in the country.
They were unhappy with the living conditions at the Lindela Repatriation Centre, as they were reportedly forced to survive on two meals a day.
Human rights activist Andy Chinnah said the conditions at the facility were becoming too unfavourable.
"We are not too unhappy about it. They wanted to be deported from Lindela Repatriation Centre [because] the living conditions were too harsh."
It’s understood that a few other undocumented migrants escaped before they could be taken to the repatriation centre.