Sihle Dube got the fright of his life when he stumbled into his dark and smoky hallway and saw a neighbour throw his baby out of the third-storey window.
"I yelled and asked why he would do that," said Dube, who survived the catastrophic blaze in Johannesburg's inner city in the early hours of Thursday.
"The man was screaming, carrying the baby in his arms. He was shouting ‘my baby, my baby’. He dropped the baby out of the window. Then he disappeared back down the passage but returned almost immediately and jumped out the window himself."
Shocked, disorientated and confused, Dube quickly realised the building was on fire, and leaving through the door would be impossible.
Minutes later, he jumped out of the same window, more terrified of the approaching flames and smoke than a three-storey drop onto a mattress.
"I feel so guilty about the ones I left behind," Dube told the Sunday Times from his hospital bed on Friday.
I wasn’t going to make it. I couldn’t breathe. I opened the window trying to get some air, but there was none
— Sihle Dube, Joburg fire survivor
"In the passage there were other people screaming and jumping out. I wasn’t able to see much but you could hear they were getting out. When I saw people left their belongings in the passage, I knew the exit would be too busy. There were many people in the building.
"There were people down there catching those who were jumping out. I was busy struggling to open a window but I also didn’t want the glass to cut me, so when I managed to open it as I got out, I hung onto the DStv dish.
The ordeal took less than five minutes, he said.
The 48-year-old father of five, who works as a clerk at a logistics company, is at Bertha Gxowa Hospital in Germiston. He suffered smoke inhalation, three fractured ribs and back injuries from his fall after the Usindiso building in the inner city caught fire at about 1am on Thursday.
He described the events leading up to his dramatic escape.
“On Wednesday after I got back from work there was load-shedding. We waited until 8pm but the electricity didn’t come back. Other buildings around us had electricity but we didn’t.
“Around 2am I heard a loud bang and I woke up in a scare. When I looked at the window I saw a flame. I started hearing screams in the passage. It was dark but I jumped towards the door and opened it. When I got to the passage there was a heavy smog coming in.
“I was confused. I was struggling to breathe. I went back inside and took my phone. I only had pants on."
Dube said his chest started feeling weak and, knowing that he had high blood pressure, he was certain if he stayed in the building any longer he would collapse.
“I wasn’t going to make it. I couldn’t breathe. I opened the window trying to get some air, but there was none. I decided to go through the window. I tried to climb down safely and held on to the DStv [satellite dish] and I felt it starting to make a sound like it was about to fall. Everything happened so fast. The next thing I knew I was on the ground."
He said that running short of breath had made him desperate enough to jump. “I didn’t think twice.”
Once he landed on the ground, it took him about 10 minutes to start feeling the pain. “I saw a mattress that was thrown out and rested on it. After a while two boys woke me up, gave me a jacket and told me to get into an ambulance. I don’t remember what happened after that. I woke up in hospital.”
Originally from Osizweni, Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, Dube has lived in the building since 2019.
I went there looking for an affordable place and they said I can rent it for R1,200. After negotiations they said I can pay R4,000 and own it
— Sihle Dube, Joburg fire survivor
“I went there looking for an affordable place and they said I can rent it for R1,200. After negotiations they said I can pay R4,000 and own it.
"I had three plasmas, I was planning to take the other two home. An amplifier, speakers, four-plate stove, wardrobe, fridge, two beds, my clothes and other belongings.
“I own three old Chryslers that I bought cheap from auctions and fixed up. They are parked at the building and the car keys are in the room. I have two laptops in there, so I’m worried."
Dube said he had tried moving out “but other places are expensive for me”.
He said some of the rooms in the dilapidated building used to be offices. “There was a hall in the building and some guy erected rooms in that space and started renting them out. On the third floor there were shacks too. A lot of people used to rent out the space. There’s a lady who used to make about R30k a month from all the rooms she rented out.”
Dube said he earns R10,000 a month, some of which goes towards supporting his children.
In the early 2000s he studied for an LLB at Unisa, but dropped out in his third year due to financial challenges. He said he later obtained a paralegal systems diploma at the University of Johannesburg, but was not able to find work in that field.
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