Joburg CBD ‘full of fire hazards’ – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

She said after the Usindiso Building fire, another building was engulfed in flames in Marshalltown.

The incident was caused by candles that were left unattended, she said. A building in Braamfontein also went up in flames during pipe system maintenance work by Egoli Gas in September.

A South African Revenue Service building at Frederick and Rissik Streets in Marshalltown also caught fire the same month.

Radebe-Kgiba said they couldn’t determine the cause of the SARS building fire due to water damage.

“With the fire that happened today, there are shacks inside the building, there are planks and people were on the balcony – and going in and out [from the building] is very difficult. There is a small passage for entrance and exits.”

Gwamanda’s spokesperson Mlimandeli Ndamase said the city has been identifying buildings and applying to the court for orders allowing it to evacuate the occupants based on safety and fire hazard rules. 

Ndamase said the city has approached the courts to find  alternative recourse “because the courts say we can’t evict people unless we find them alternative accommodation within a 10km radius”. 

Ndamase said so far, the city has obtained six orders to evacuate occupants of unsafe buildings and move them to areas beyond the 10km radius. 

“Each building has its own case number and as such the orders are building-specific. What it means is that this allows the city to start a process of  evacuating some of these buildings in…