Evidence from uSindiso building fire witnesses can't be used in court or by police - evidence leader
This after a witness admitted under oath to setting the uSindiso building on fire on 31 August last year, killing over 70 people and leaving hundreds of displaced.
A view of emergency services in the Johannesburg CBD attending to the Marshalltown building fire, which claimed the lives of 77 people. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Evidence presented by witnesses in the commission of inquiry into the Marshalltown fire that killed 77 people has been ruled as inadmissible by its evidence leader, Advocate Ishmael Semenya.
He said that statements made by witnesses during proceedings could not be used against them in court or during the South African Police Service (SAPS)’s investigations into the fatal blaze.
This after a witness admitted under oath to setting the uSindiso building on fire on 31 August last year, killing over 70 people and leaving hundreds of displaced.
The witness told the panel of commissioners on Tuesday afternoon that the fire flared after he set a body alight - he said he strangled the person to death on that day.
He made this shocking revelation during an in-camera sitting on Monday morning, meaning Eyewitness News cannot name him to protect his identity.
The man, who claims to have started the fire that resulted in the deaths of more that 70 people, said he was trying to get rid of evidence after he allegedly killed a person on the night of the blaze.
He said he then went to buy petrol and poured it over the body and threw a matchstick to ignite the fire before he fled the building.
The witness broke down in tears and told the panel of commissioners that he often prayed that God would punish him as his actions led to one of South Africa’s biggest tragedies.
The witness said that when he set the building on fire, he was high on crystal meth, which he was supplied to by a drug lord who he referred to as the "big boss" in the uSindiso building.
The inquiry’s evidence leader, Advocate Ishmael Semenya, has confirmed to Eyewitness News that the contents of the evidence before the commission cannot be used by any other body for its own investigations.