LISTEN | 'We are neglected, left to fend for ourselves': Usindiso fire survivors relocated to Denver settlement

“We are on our own and that place is unsafe.” 

This is according to one of the survivors of the fire at Usindiso building in Marshalltown, Johannesburg, who has been relocated with others to a shelter in Denver.

After the fire in August last year, which left 77 people dead, the building was closed and residents moved to a temporary settlement near Denver men's hostel.

On Friday a group of residents from the settlement marched to the office of the Gauteng premier and then to the office of the Johannesburg mayor. The group complained they were subjected to unbearable living conditions in Denver.

They said survivors of several fires in the city had been relocated to this settlement. 

Bongiwe Sithole, 36, from Nquthu in KwaZulu-Natal, said staying at the Usindiso building was much better than her new home. She said when she had lived in the building in the CBD, she had been able to provide for herself and her children.

The mother of three complained that what was initially a temporary home has become their permanent shelter with no government officials on site to see their living conditions.

“That place is not safe, there are sounds of guns every evening with zama zamas. The kids are [allegedly] being raped and not going to school. Elderly people don't have food and can't even afford to travel to clinics to collect their medication,” she said.

Sethotwakhe Zungu, one of the organisers of the march, said the residents of the Denver settlement were the victims of the Booysens shack fire in October last year, which left two dead and destroyed 37 shacks, the Usindiso fire and the Delvers building fire in September last year.

“All of us are placed in temporary unbearable living conditions,” Zungu said, adding that residents were seeking answers from Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi and Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda. 

“Whatever they say in the media is all lies. The officials will arrive at the settlement and promise us what they are going to do but nothing is happening. After the Usindiso fire, they took us to Hofland Park Community Centre and then to Denver,” he said.

Zungu said some people had been staying in the settlement for more than six months. Residents wanted to know what the government was planning to do about their situation. 

Sithole said when she was living at Usindiso, she was able to sell vetkoek and earn a living to support her three children. “But where I am now that is just impossible and when you need to come to town, you either need at least R16 for transport or you walk, which is a distance,” she said. 

She said she was unable to generate an income and had to find money to pay for the schooling of her child who is a grade 11 at a school in Jeppestown. Some people collected bottles and cans and sold them to survive, she said.

“At least young people can walk to town, but what about the elders? Children are not even going to school,” she said.

Cikizwa Rigala, 38, felt officials had lied to them when they relocated them to the Denver settlement. She said officials initially said the area was a temporary settlement but it had become a permanent home.

“Those shacks are flooded when it rains and don't even lock. We have been left to fend for ourselves. Since we were placed here, no person from the province or the mayor has ever arrived to see the situation and how we are living,” she said. 

Rigala added that the only person who tried to help them and give them food parcels was their ward councillor.                 

Another survivor who escaped the raging fire in Usindiso and spent seven days in hospital said he did not even get a shack.

“We were never taken care of. Only a few people from Usindiso were accommodated there — not even 50. We are pleading with the office of the premier to investigate,” said Sihle Dube from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal. 

An official from the premier's office, Lucky Mabaso, who accepted a memorandum from the marchers, told the group that the office would send them an e-mail to acknowledge the memorandum within 48 hours. 

“We will then start to investigate your plight and give you feedback through your leaders,” he said.

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