Doornfontein wall collapse: CoJ officials probing if safety compliance was adhered to

Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety Mgcini Tshwaku said city officials are looking into whether safety compliance was adhered to at the building where a wall collapsed in Doornfontein near the Johannesburg CBD.

A part of the building collapsed following an explosion caused by a gas leak on Monday, injuring four people in the blast.

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Residents have since been evacuated from the building, with more than 320 units, until safety teams and contracts have given the building owners the all-clear.

Tshwaku said the building has confirmed the structure was previously an industrial building before being converted into a student accommodation.

“Let's wait for the investigation. We will come back and tell you exactly what actually happened. But we want to go to the planning in terms of, because this falls under planning... We want to check in terms of was there a proper handover in terms of the changing from industrial into housing. Yes. So, we want to check all of those things there.”

He said the city is in talks with the owners of the newly constructed building, Ithemba Properties, while officials will continue to closely monitor for compliance at buildings across Johannesburg.

“But we're going to be more vigilant. We will check. And this one here, I think within this week, we'll give it three days, four days, probably by the end of this week. We should be actually getting the bottom of it. But I'm going to be around to check as they are removing this rubble because we want to go inside and check, well, what is the issue there? Like, what might have actually happened? But this explosion, it doesn't make sense.”