THE acting chief of the Emergency Management Services (EMS) for the City of Joburg, Rapulana Monageng, was called once again to testify before the commission of inquiry into the Usindiso Building fire on Tuesday, 13 February.
The first time he set foot in the commission was on 26 October where he described his initial response to the scene. He said what they had identified as the primary factors that contributed to the loss of 77 lives in the fire on 31 August were the following:
- Locked security gates
- The absence of fire extinguishers
- Blocked emergency routes.
But this time around, he came to respond to the claims made by the former firefighter and CEO of Private Fire Brigade, Wynand Engelbrecht.
Englebrecht claimed that the city owed them over R160 000 for the services his company rendered when the fire broke out at the hijacked building, which claimed the lives of 77 people, injured 60 more and left many homeless.
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Monageng argued in his testimony that they had not signed a contract with the fire ops to render their services and there was no reason to pay.
This despite Engelbrecht suggesting that they had struck a deal with the city to no longer be paid by the department.
Monageng denied this as there was no agreement between the two parties.
He also mentioned that the city had not gone out for tenders to assist the fire department and had not received any documents.
According to Monageng, this was not the first time Engelbrecht had hit them with an invoice. He further said they had disregarded another invoice from the private company when Lilian Ngoyi Street, known as Bree Street, exploded.
Monageng also set the record straight on the issue of being under-resourced on the morning of the tragic fire. This followed Engelbrecht's claims in his testimony on 18 January that there were loopholes in the rescue operation.
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He said the city had a mutual aid assistance agreement, allowing them to contact different councils to assist in the fire.
According to Monageng, when the fire broke out at the building on 31 August, the first person on the scene was a station commander who conducted a 360-degree analysis to assess the magnitude of the fire, plan the rescue operation, and save lives and property.
He maintained that the city had a unified command system, including police, the health department, disaster management and Metro police, ensuring everyone played a role in the rescue and firefighting operation.
As a result, Monageng dismissed Engelbrecht's claims of not having enough equipment to fight the fire.
“We had enough resources on the ground, enough water supply and services from other municipalities [including Ekurhuleni]. There was even an incident command system that was in place with different role players,” he said.
