Jeppestown building fire survivors appeal to CoJ for better temporary accommodation

JOHANNESBURG - After one night in temporary shelters, Jeppestown building fire survivors are appealing to the Johannesburg municipality to build them shacks.

On Sunday morning, about 200 people were displaced following a fire that gutted a hijacked building in the city centre and claimed the lives of four people.

The municipality is currently accommodating them in tents at a nearby sports ground, however, the survivors have complained that the tents were cold and uninhabitable.

Aside from the Jeppestown fire survivors, the temporary tent shelters are also accommodating survivors from the Commissioner Street building fire, who have been there for over seven months.

One of the leaders of the Jeppestown survivors, Sanele Phewa, said they could not stay that long under these conditions.

Phewa said the city could build them shacks as it did for the survivors of the Usindiso building fire.

"Shacks or anything else will be better than this. At least, you can live alone in a shack unlike here, where we are grouped with people you don’t know in a large tent. It’s difficult, you are scared to even go out because you are not sure if your stuff will still be there when you return."

The Johannesburg municipality said it was working on finding alternative accommodation for the survivors, however, it has not put down a deadline.