By Charles Mgbolu
In the middle of a sprawling Johannesburg neighbourhood, in the Marshalltown district, stands a blackened five-story building overlooking a busy metropolis.
People who walk past shudder as they stare at the cordoned, ghostly structure, marked in city documents as 80 Albert Street.
At least 76 people died within its walls, with dozens more injured, when a deadly mid-night fire broke out on August 31.
The victims, mostly homeless people and squatters, including 12 children, were trapped as roaring flames surged through the floors and overwhelmed the building.
No escape
The doors to the main fire escape were chained closed, and other emergency exits were locked; for many, there was no escape.
Shell-shocked onlookers saw some victims jump or throw babies from the top floors.
Other victims, blinded by the smoke and heat, were caught as the flames burned ruthlessly through, leaving death and destruction in their embers.
It has been described as one of the deadliest fires in South African history, with President Cyril Ramaphosa calling it "a wake-up call."
The disaster brought attention to a problem that had always existed but was largely ignored.
Overcrowded buildings
Hundreds of buildings in the Johannesburg CBD are overcrowded, unregulated, and inhabited by less privileged people, including a large number of undocumented migrants.
NGOs, who prevented previous attempts to evict occupiers from similar properties, were immediately cast as the villains in this tragic story.
These NGOs had called up South Africa's Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act (PIE Act), which states that no person can be removed from their home without a court order.
The act also states that once a person is settled in a building and can prove they have nowhere else to go, they cannot be evicted. It made clearing buildings like the one in the centre of this incident difficult.
After the incident, Johannesburg councilman Mgcini Tshwaku said the affected apartment block was one of more than 600 derelict buildings in the city that are being illegally occupied—or “hijacked.”
Flooded buildings
These kinds of buildings are flooded mostly by illegal migrants from countries such as Nigeria, Somalia, and Zimbabwe who come to South Africa in the hope of a better life.
In the last few weeks of 2023, South African border control has intensified efforts to intercept busloads of illegal migrants entering the country, mostly through the Zimbabwean border.
Authorities say it’s a first step towards curbing the growing numbers of illegal settlers in the country.
But concerning the fire incident and the potential deathtrap in other similar buildings, a lot of questions still need answers.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has said it is important for the government to ‘’address the situation of housing in the inner city.”
Analysts, however, worry that this statement does not clearly state ''how'' this would be achieved.
As the remains of 80 Albert Street continue to stand where it was destroyed, South Africans can only hope; the chilling cries of those 76 victims are never forgotten, and the challenges confronting housing illegal migrants in the country are properly looked into in the new year.
