On the morning of August 31 2023, Johannesburg residents woke up to the devastating news, that made international headlines, of at least 30 lives being lost in a fire in one of the inner-city buildings owned by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The number of deaths would rise to 77.
The building at 80 Albert Street was the infamous Non-European Affairs Department’s Central Pass Office checkpoint of the influx control system under the apartheid regime. It was the office from which the “dompas”, which controlled the movement of black people in South Africa, was issued and that was responsible for authorising the expulsion of “unworthy black people” from Johannesburg, denying them a place in the inner city. It was launched in 1954 and, with the advent of democracy in 1994, was converted into a hostel renamed Usindiso Women’s Shelter, for abused women and children.
In an article by Brand South Africa on August 3 2007, the building was described as consisting of four floors, with a sick bay, a receiving room (for those just brought in and needing to see a social worker), a clinic, a dining room and kitchen, a lounge and TV room, communal bathrooms, a chapel (previously the pass court), a large hall (the former pass issuing and renewal office, with two rows of counters) and several dozen rooms for women and their children.
Usindiso Women’s Shelter, which loosely translates to the “saving” or “salvation” place, is an unfortunate example of how the city deals with its shelters which are occupied by many of its poorest and most vulnerable residents. Before its neglect by the city, resulting in the building falling into disrepair and what the city refers to as its “hijacking”, the building and running of the shelter had been allegedly leased to the NGO Usindiso Ministries since 2001. It is unclear when that lease ended or when the ministry relinquished its control.
Johannesburg's shelters and transitional housing are in a state of disrepair because of the city’s neglect of its buildings. They need to be urgently improved, and people living in them provided with access to basic services.
It is in this context that the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (Seri) urges the city to take this unfortunate event as a wake-up call to proactively improve the conditions in the buildings it owns and manages, as well as other abandoned buildings, to prevent future loss of life.
The disaster is symptomatic of a multifaceted crisis in inner-city Johannesburg, the housing crisis being central to it. The advent of the constitution imposed new obligations for the state to reorganise the sociopolitical and economic landscape of the country. The preamble indicates the broad objectives, which are to “improve the quality of life of all citizens and to free the potential of each person”.
The state has demanding constitutional obligations to: “heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights; lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law ... and build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its place as a sovereign state in the family of nations”.
Section 26 of the constitution guarantees the right to adequate housing and provides that no-one may be evicted from their home without a court order and until all relevant circumstances have been considered. Despite these provisions, South Africa remains an unequal society in which the poor black majority is denied access to adequate land, housing and property opportunities, is subject to poor living conditions in informal settlements and the inner-city and faces a continuous threat of arbitrary evictions. The rising demand for affordable, low-cost rental accommodation has not been met by the government, nor by the private sector.
The city’s response and attitude towards the surviving residents of Usindiso Women’s Shelter and those of other similar occupied buildings espouses the same apartheid systematic technique to rid the inner-city of poor people who cannot afford the standard of a gentrified city
The occupation of land and buildings is a last resort for people with no other available or affordable formal options. To account for historical inequalities and exclusion, the state has an obligation to provide alternative accommodation to occupiers who will be rendered homeless if evicted.
The PIE Act (Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land) acknowledges and protects the rights of unlawful occupiers and offers protections to people with no property rights. It aims to protect millions of South Africans who have no common law entitlement to land.
Occupants of land and inner-city buildings are often portrayed as criminal and problematic, yet little attention is given to the historical and socioeconomic context in which poverty is perpetuated in South Africa.
Social, economic and racial inequalities persist and more than half of the population is living in poverty. These are people that the Central Pass Office deemed to be “unworthy black people”, throwing them out and denying them a place in the inner city.
The city’s response and attitude towards the surviving residents of Usindiso Women’s Shelter and those of other similar occupied buildings espouses the same apartheid systematic technique to rid the inner city of poor people who cannot afford the standard of a gentrified city. This kind of approach has no place in our democracy.
Seri proposes a three-pronged approach to avoid calamities of this nature from happening again. First, the immediate provision of emergency services for all residents living in abandoned buildings to address the safety, health and basic needs on an interim basis. Second,the gradual repair or upgrading of buildings to ensure that they do not pose a threat to the health, safety and lives of residents. Third, if the threats cannot be addressed through in situ repair and incremental upgrading, then consensual or court ordered resettlement or relocation to alternative accommodation should proceed. The people living in abandoned buildings must be central to any interventions undertaken.
Compelled to act by the disastrous fire at the former Pass Office, it is a devastating irony that the City of Johannesburg is resorting to a systematic apartheid technique. Our democracy demands an alternative approach. The city must use it.
• Sithole is a senior attorney at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa
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.