South Africa inquiry blames authorities for neglect leading to deadly fire

JOHANNESBURG: An inquiry into a fire that killed 77 people in Johannesburg last year blamed neglect by authorities for allowing a building to become a den for guns, murder, drugs and combustible trash, and failing to evacuate it once it was clear it was a hazard.

South Africa opened the inquiry last October to determine responsibility for the blaze on Aug 31 last year in the rundown centre of its commercial hub.

The fire cast light on the gangs that seize abandoned public buildings to illegally rent them out. Many victims were so badly burned they had to be identified with DNA testing.

“No case amply demonstrates the consequences of failure to comply with the obligations the law placed on a municipality (than) ... the calamity (of the fire),” the report said.