Judgment is expected in the case against Sithembiso Mdlalose, who is accused of starting the fire that killed 76 people at the Usindiso Building in Johannesburg’s CBD in August 2023. The matter was briefly heard in the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday before being postponed for transfer back to the High Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court. Mdlalose faces 76 counts of murder in connection with the deadly blaze.
Mdlalose was arrested in 2024 after telling the Usindiso Building Commission of Inquiry that he had started the fire. He previously claimed that he had choked a man in a ground-floor room before using petrol to set the body alight in an attempt to conceal the alleged murder. The fire subsequently spread to other parts of the building.
During the trial, however, Mdlalose withdrew his earlier account and claimed that he had been forced to make a false confession by an unidentified Tanzanian drug lord. His case has since remained before the courts as the circumstances surrounding the deadly fire continue to be examined.
Usindiso Building Fire Survivor Describes Desperate Escape
Tholakele Zondo, who testified during trial proceedings last year through a translator, described how she was asleep with her family when neighbours alerted them to the fire. She said residents were shouting in different languages as panic spread through the building. “People were screaming in different languages that there was a fire. I couldn’t see the fire, and there was no smoke [on the third floor].”
Zondo said the main entrance on the ground floor was inaccessible, forcing her to try to make her way towards the upper levels. During the escape, she lost sight of her two teenage children and her husband while trying to reach the top of the building with her four-year-old daughter.
She encountered four Tanzanian men who attempted to assist her as she tried to escape. Zondo said she slipped and fell from the fifth floor to the level below before losing consciousness. When she regained consciousness, she realised that her child was still nearby.
“At first, I couldn’t see that I was injured. They woke me, and I could hear my child crying. The men left and returned with a blanket, which they said they would help me reach the fight floor with. But I refused, and I feared she would fall again.”
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Zondo said the men urged her to accept their assistance, but she remained afraid that her daughter could fall again. They eventually walked away, leaving Zondo and her child behind as they waited for further help.
She became emotional while recalling what happened after rescuers eventually arrived. Zondo said survivors were confronted with the sight of numerous bodies lying covered in the street outside the building.
She said she continued to struggle to comprehend how many of her neighbours had died in such a gruesome manner. The testimony provided a personal account of the chaos inside the building as residents attempted to escape the rapidly spreading fire.
Usindiso Commission Findings On Johannesburg Building Safety
The Usindiso Building Commission of Inquiry was established in 2023 by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi to investigate the circumstances surrounding the August fire in Marshalltown. Retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe was appointed to chair the commission.
Part A of the inquiry examined the fire itself, including its cause and whether anyone should be held accountable for the deaths and injuries resulting from the blaze. Part B focused on abandoned buildings that had allegedly been taken over by criminal syndicates or other groups before being rented to people unable to afford alternative accommodation.
The commission’s first report found that the City of Johannesburg bore some responsibility because of its failure to enforce municipal by-laws. The five-storey building at the corner of Delvers and Alberts Streets was among almost 200 properties identified by the City’s group forensic investigation service as hijacked buildings.
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Thirteen of those properties belonged to the City of Johannesburg, including the Usindiso Building. Many of the buildings had been condemned because they failed to meet required safety standards and lacked basic services such as water, electricity and refuse collection.
Emergency personnel who responded to the Usindiso Building fire also reported that makeshift structures had been erected inside some rooms. The overcrowded conditions and the presence of these structures made it more difficult for emergency teams to reach and rescue people trapped inside.
