WHILE South Africa is never short of socio-economic headaches on any day, the country’s multiple problems have just been worsened.
The disaster that happened in the Joburg CBD, where a fire ripped through an alleged hijacked building killing more than 70 people, has brought the issue of hijacked buildings back into the spotlight.
And while it might still be early to point fingers at those who might be blamed for the mess, it’s worth noting that this has become one of the biggest disasters this country has ever seen. And it could’ve been avoided.
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Recent disasters in which people were killed in large numbers include the Marikana Massacre in 2012, where 43 people died, the Ellis Park disaster of 2001 in which 43 soccer fans were killed in a stampede and the Workers Day bus disaster, in which 51 union members died while going to a rally in the Free State. After all has been said and done, this problem should be sorted once and for all.
In the past, we have seen incidents of this nature where residential buildings burn down, but we have not seen any mass deaths on this scale. While this incident is unfortunate as many families have lost their loved ones, let it help to set the fire under the bums of authorities to move with speed in solving the problem.
It’s common to find residential buildings in this country that have tampered with their electricity metres, stealing millions of revenue from the municipalities.
One of the biggest problems with many buildings are fire hydrants that don’t work and no fire extinguishers on site. All spheres of government need to act swiftly and come up with a permanent solution or else disasters of this nature will become commonplace in Mzansi.
