MZANSI has experienced a number of tragedies in 2023.
From horrific fires that claimed more than 70 lives, explosions tearing across the largest city in South Africa to spaza shops being exposed for selling fake goods, the country dealt with one tragedy after another.
It's through such stories that Mzansi was forced to question their own safety, the "monsters" that live among them and more than anything, forced the nation's leaders to draw lessons from the country's misfortunes.
These are some of the stories that were part of 2023's devastating chapter.
Deadly Marshalltown fire
A fire at the Usindiso Building on Delvers and Albert Streets in Marshalltown, Joburg killed 77 people On Thursday, 31 August. More than 60 people were injured, while many were left homeless.
It was reported at the time that the shelter was a hijacked building comprising of shacks inside the structure, which housed more than 200 residents. Evidence brought forward at the commission of inquiry into the fire labelled the conditions inside the building as a maze.
Joburg explosion rips apart Bree Street
On Wednesday, 19 July, an underground explosion in the Joburg CBD caused significant damage to Lilian Ngoyi Street, formally known as Bree Street, the busiest taxi street in the city.
The explosion killed one person and injured 41 others. Extensive inspections and investigations by technical experts revealed that the explosion was triggered after methane, natural gas and gas from a commercial gas pipeline mixed in the stormwater drainage system.
While millions of rands are being coughed up for repairs, the street remains closed with chances of reopening in 2024.
Boksburg gas leak leaves 16 dead
As if the 2022 Christmas eve explosion in Boksburg that killed 41 people died when a fuel tanker exploded was not enough, another tragedy struck the area once again.
This time, 16 people were left dead and one injured when a nitrogen oxide cylinder exploded at Angelo squatter camp at about 8pm on 5 July 2023.
It was believed that illegal miners and their families died tragically during the leakage and bodies were strewn on the streets. It was through this and many other stories relating to illegal miners that saw Minter Bheki Cele call for them to evacuate the holes they had occupied in and around the city.
Ravaging fires leaves lingering screams of help
The year saw a lot of shack fires. One of them was a fire in Fleurhof where homeless which destroyed 44 shacks and killed two kids aged five and two, whose mum sustained injuries and was rushed to hospital.
Also, in Gauteng two mothers were arrested for leaving their five children to go out partying at a nearby tavern at an informal settlement in Tshwane.
Meanwhile in Khayelitsha, Western Cape residents were left in shock after a family of six died in flames on Saturday, 29 July in SST section.
Shack fires were not the only dominating stories. Another fire that stole headlines was the one that ripped through one of NCT Forestry Agricultural Co-operative Limited's wood chip piles in Richards Bay, KZN, lasting two days.
And on 6 October 2023, a wildfire at the SA Army's Combat Training Centre, Northern Cape, killed six soldiers and injured several others. Such fires left izangoma predicting that the country was cursed.
The expired goods saga
The year saw a lot of young pupils either dying or being hospitalised after consuming either poisoned, laced or expired goods.
In Pulamadibogo Primary School in Soshanguve, Tshwane almost 90 pupils were rushed to local medical facilities, while two boys from Naledi, Soweto died after eating poisoned biscuits.
This saw several communities across the country coming out in numbers to boycot foreign-owned spaza shops. Several shops were even shutdown by the police after investigations revealed that they produced counterfeit goods.
