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Usindiso fire: Ball is in Lesufi and company’s court
Government officials often evade accountability, but Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi vows immediate action on building safety.
Justice Sisi Khampepe delivers her ruling on the recusal application of Advocate Thulani Makhubela at the Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso building fire at the Sci Bono centre in Newtown, Jphannesburg, 20 December 2023. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
Accountability and responsibility are two words that don’t come easy for government officials.
When found guilty of not doing their job, or carrying out their duties poorly, their reaction is “who, me?”
ALSOO READ: Public Safety MMC to ‘engage with residents’ after being implicated in Usindiso report
They also know if they dig their heels in for long enough and continue to play the victim, the attention will ease because one of their colleagues will be found out of wrongdoing in the near future and the heat will follow them.
So on the face of it, it’s refreshing that Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said they will move immediately to implement the recommendations of retired judge Sisi Khampepe, who didn’t hold back in her report of who is to blame for the loss of 77 lives in the hijacked Usindiso building in Marshalltown in August last year.
Yes, Lesufi is a politician. Yes, he’s probably saying what we want to hear. But what if he did take action against those implicated?
Lesufi said: “I do not want to even change a comma or sentence [on the report]. I am moving to the next stage of implementing the recommendations.”
The fire inquiry revealed city officials knew about the overcrowded, crime-ridden building for many years and did nothing about it.
It also found that the Joburg Property Company (JPC) never zoned the building for residential purposes, despite concluding a lease agreement with the Usindiso Ministry.
The report added: “As early as 2019 – to the full knowledge of the City of Joburg (COJ) and the JPC – the building had not only been abandoned by the owner, but was due to be demolished, and that the COJ and the JPC had not maintained the building for years.”
As human rights activist Andy Chinnah said, Khampepe’s findings and recommendations are “a good start because if you are going to fix something, you need to take responsibility. The question is whether the City of Joburg and the provincial and national governments do something about the report.”
The ball is in Lesufi and company’s court… We’re watching.
