uSindiso building was infiltrated by gangsters who controlled everything, inquiry told

JOHANNESBURG  - A resident at the uSindiso building that was destroyed by a raging blaze that killed more than 70 people has taken the witness stand at the commission of inquiry looking into the Marshalltown fire.

She is the first survivor of the fatal blaze to give verbal evidence before the panel of commissioners.

Eyewitness News cannot name the witness after evidence leader, Advocate Ishmael Semenya, requested Monday’s proceedings to be held in private to protect her identity.

READ: Firefighter urges municipalities to prioritise fire safety to prevent another uSindiso building fire

The inquiry was appointed to probe the possible causes of the deadly fire and to investigate the prevalence of hijacked buildings in the CBD.

The first survivor to take the stand in the commission of inquiry probing the Marshalltown fire was a resident at the uSindiso building for nearly two years.

She told the panel of commissioners that the building was infiltrated by gangsters, who she said controlled everything that happened in the five-story hijacked block of flats.

The witness escaped the building unharmed moments after the fire flared and recalled seeing babies being thrown out of the windows by desperate parents who wanted to save their children.

But she said she doesn’t believe the blaze was caused by an electrical fault as she believes someone may have been behind the catastrophic incident.