COJ given 3 months to improve living conditions of Marshalltown fire survivors

Shacks constructed for Usindiso building fire victims in Denver, south of Johannesburg, on 16 November 2023. Victims were relocated from a shelter, where they had been seeking refuge since the blaze gutted the hijacked building in August, and killed close to 80 people.

JOHANNESBURG – The City of Joburg has been given three months to improve the living conditions of the Marshalltown fire victims, who’ve recently been moved to temporary shelters in Denver.

A raging fire ripped through a five-storey building in the inner city nearly three months ago, killing 77 people and displacing hundreds.

The municipality is housing some of the survivors on a piece of land in Denver, where it has built over 100 one-room structures of corrugated iron.

The Johannesburg High Court has issued a court order, which Eyewitness News has seen, instructing the city to install prepaid electricity meters within 90 days and additional ablution facilities on the site.

The survivors of the Marshalltown fire are staying on city-owned land that has no access to electricity and the 200 people are expected to share four taps and 30 mobile toilets.

The Johannesburg High Court has ordered the city to install four standpipes encompassing of three taps each within 60 days, and 20 additional sanitation facilities that will be serviced weekly.

Candice Pillay from Norton Rose Fulbright, a law firm that is representing the survivors, said that the municipality has also been ordered to appoint a security company to prevent land invasions on the site.

“The conditions are not ideal and the city has undertaken that all the South Africans will be placed under necessary conservative RDP housing.

The city will have to report to court in three months to provide progress made in fulfilling the contents of the court order.”

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