The Johannesburg inner city building in which 76 people died in a fire was, at one time, meant to be a haven for women and children abused by men. These are victims of abuse in its many guises.
The name of the building, Usindiso, was apt, meaning “place of safety” on one level and, at a more religious level, “redemption”. Yet the building offered neither safety nor redemption for the women it was meant to house.
It is owned by the City of Johannesburg, which leased it to the provincial department of social development, which was meant to use it as a sanctuary for society’s weak and vulnerable. When the building was hijacked by armed men, the putative beneficiaries once more became the victims.
In the period that the building was under the control of hijackers, the city was led by mayors from different political parties who, sadly, did not do enough to ensure the women’s safety, much less their redemption.
Whether you look at Usindiso through a gendered or a system-failure lens, it represents a spectacular failure to protect the vulnerable.
If a government building is hijacked by a band of criminals, the relevant authority — local, provincial or national — does not have the luxury of shrugging its shoulders and playing victim; it has the resources to end such takeovers, and is obliged to use them.
While the Usindiso tragedy marks a dramatic low point for Johannesburg, the loss of so many lives must not be in vain; it must inspire renewed commitment to reversing urban decay and making the city safe
When a local government throws its hands up in the air, what chance do business people with no police force at their disposal have? An investor sitting in Sydney or Shanghai can give up on a property in Johannesburg, but the city has a duty to reclaim not just the buildings it owns, but also those owned by private citizens.
The tragic death toll at Usindiso is probably the worst of its kind we have seen in South Africa. More than 60 of the bodies have been burnt beyond recognition, while about 15 are identifiable. Fires periodically ravage shack settlements around the country, but the casualty count never approaches the scale of Usindiso.
The idea of turning a five-storey building into a shack settlement is jaw-dropping. But even more astounding is the fact that the authorities have known for years that many structures in the Johannesburg inner city pose a fire hazard.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday called the inferno a tragic wake-up call for us to tackle the inner-city housing crisis. We make a mistake if we assume that the authorities are attending to the issues that appear obvious and pressing to us.
Why would any administration need a wake-up call to sort out the problems of our inner cities? It is like saying we need a wake-up call to deal with unemployment or crime. The question is, why aren’t we already awake?
Johannesburg is too important a city to fail. If no properly regulated affordable housing is available, more city buildings, which are increasingly being abandoned by their owners, will become deathtraps.
While the Usindiso tragedy marks a dramatic low point for Johannesburg, the loss of so many lives must not be in vain; it must inspire renewed commitment to reversing urban decay and making the city safe. Some politicians and city officials have sought to blame past court decisions for their failure to act.
They say their hands are tied by rulings that say you can’t evict people from dangerous buildings without finding them alternative accommodation within 10km from the area. But if that is the hindrance to action, why haven’t these officials and politicians approached the courts to overturn such rulings?The blame games must stop and what is urgent now is how to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.