President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Usindiso shelter for Women and Children where the building that was gutted by fire and left at least over 70 people dead and more than 43 injured on August 31 last year. Picture: Itumeleng English Independent Newspapers
The City of Johannesburg MMC for Human Settlements Anthea Leitch has come down harshly on Justice Sisi Khampepe, accusing her of having butchered the principles of natural justice.
This comes after chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso Building fire, Khampepe, encouraged Joburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda to investigate the role of MMCs Leitch and Tshwaku for allegedly failing to avert the tragedy, where at least 77 people died in an inferno last year.
Leitch, through her spokesperson Charles Cilliers, said Khampepe did not afford her a “basic level of decency”.
“The comments therefore raise more questions than they seem to answer – including why an MMC from a completely different department should find herself being held responsible for the executive actions of an entity over which she has no oversight.
“If this commission could make a finding against someone who did not even have a chance to make representations on anything she might be accused of, then the basic principles of natural justice would have been ignored.
“The context of the former justice’s comments about the MMC for Human Settlements are therefore difficult to comprehend. The MMC has not been provided with a copy of the commission’s report and will only consider her options once this has been released,” Cilliers said.
Cilliers said if the MMC was named adversely, that raised the spectre of severely unfair prejudice, since South African law dictated that any person against whom any adverse legal findings can be made should, at the very least, have been given an opportunity to make inputs and representations in the matter concerned.
Presenting her part one report over the weekend, Khampepe advised that an appropriate action should be taken against Joburg Property Company chief executive Helen Botes, Leitch, and Joburg public safety MMC Dr Mgcini Tshwaku for the decay, overcrowding and dilapidation which festered at the City of Johannesburg’s Usindiso Building.
In her damning report against the MMC and her counterpart, Khampepe’s commission said the City must consider erecting a plaque bearing the names of the 77 people who perished in the August inferno.
She said the process of demolishing the doomed Usindiso building must now be seen to its final implementation.
“Since all contraventions of the national acts and by-laws have been established, the city must engage in an independent process to determine who must bear individual responsibility or liability for each of of the contraventions found in our report, and to report any attendant criminal conduct to the relevant authorities for further investigations,” said Khampepe.
The report also found that there was evidence of contravention of the city by-laws by the City of Johannesburg.
“For instance, the absence of doors swinging in the direction of escape routes due to being welded together and the blocking of passage ways, escape routes and stairways is evidence of contravention of Section 13 of the emergency services by-laws,” she said.
“The commission also found that firefighting connections in the hijacked building which housed thousands of people were being used as sources of water for domestic use due to the disconnection of portable water supply, which is a contravention of water by-laws in the city.
“The accumulation of waste, the presence of unhygienic and unsanitary conditions, the existence of overcrowding and the occupation of the building without a sufficient supply of portable water, coupled with the City of Joburg’s failure to prevent, eliminate to remove such health hazards and nuisances is evidence of contraventions of Section 5, 6, 7 and 38 of the public health by-laws,” said Khampepe.
Meanwhile, Tshwaku said he noted the release of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Usindiso Building, but he, however, said he will provide proper context after the report has been submitted.
“The MMC for Public Safety will await the official hand over of the report to the Mayor of City of Johannesburg upon which, the Department of Public Safety will study the report and engage with members of the public, particularly residents of the city.
“Our commitment remains to transparency and accountability, and we will address any relevant matters following the official process,” stated Tshwaku.
The Star
sipho.jack@inl.co.za
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