“The strangled body was set on fire”… Hundreds of casualties occurred
Johannesburg ‘building occupation’ problem emerges, ‘side room’ structure is also a problem
A man has confessed to the crime in which 76 people died in a building fire in South Africa in August last year.
According to the Associated Press on the 23rd (local time), a 29-year-old man living in Johannesburg stated in a fact-finding investigation, “On the day the incident occurred, I beat and strangled a man to death in the basement of the building.” He poured gasoline on the dead man’s body and lit it with a match.
He then said that he killed a man after receiving instructions from a Tanzanian drug dealer.
South African police arrested a man on the 23rd based on his statement. He faces 76 counts of murder, 120 counts of attempted murder and arson, police said in a statement.
An arsonist started a fire in a five-story building in Johannesburg’s central business district on August 31 last year, causing multiple casualties, including the deaths of 12 children.
The fire disaster brought to mind Johannesburg’s ‘building occupation’ problem, the Associated Press reported. Completed in 1954, the building was originally owned by Johannesburg, but after the abolition of South Africa’s apartheid policy in 1994, hundreds of impoverished immigrants have been living there illegally.
In fact, many of the residents of this building were foreigners residing in South Africa illegally. Citing interviews with residents nearby at the time of the disaster, local media reported that at least 20 of the dead were from Malawi and five were from Tanzania.
In response, the Associated Press criticized, “South African authorities are powerless to prevent the ‘building occupation.’”
Some also point out that the poor environment inside the building contributed to the increase in work. The New York Times reported, “The structure of this building is cruel and scary.” This is because the inside of the building was closely divided into ‘side rooms’, making it like a maze, making it difficult for residents to evacuate.
There are over 600 abandoned buildings in Johannesburg. Local gangs who took over these buildings installed temporary walls and created small rooms to attract more tenants. It is known that there were about 80 small rooms in the building that burned down.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.