Jeppestown building fire survivors left stranded following deadly blaze

JOHANNESBURG - Survivors of the Jeppestown fire say they have nowhere to live after their hijacked building was burnt down.

During the early hours of Sunday, a building in the inner city of Johannesburg caught alight, resulting in the deaths of four people.

Around 300 people have been left displaced and are currently being housed in tents at a nearby sports field. 

READ: After deadly fire, homeless people salvage what they can from hijacked Jeppestown building

The walls of the burnt-down building are visibly cracked.

Despite firefighters deeming the building unstable, former residents have been entering it to salvage what they can.

Buyile Mayisela said she lost her phone, ID, matric certificate and many other personal documents in the fire. 

"Most of the people who lived here also worked around here, so hopefully where we are moved is near our jobs. The jobs we have don’t pay a lot, we can’t even afford to send money home and support ourselves," said Mayisela.

The City of Johannesburg said it was in consultation with the Department of Home Affairs to assist with replacing the lost documents of the survivors.

CITY NOTES CHALLENGE OF FINDING ACCOMMODATION FOR SURVIVORS

The Department of Public Safety in Johannesburg said finding alternative accommodation for people living in hijacked and abandoned buildings remained a stumbling block.  

In terms of the Constitution, a municipality is obliged to provide alternative accommodation for evictees if they are going to be left homeless.  

There are calls for the city to act on those who occupy buildings in the city illegally.  
 
Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety Mgcini Tshwaku says the city is aware of the hijacked buildings, however, it hands are tied. 
 
"The law doesn’t permit us to take people and put them on the streets, we must put them somewhere, that’s where the problem is. Let the national (government) unlock the funding so that you are able to do the transitional accommodation for the people. And also, the city is also looking at having affordable housing," said Tshwaku.