Only 12 of 74 Joburg CBD fire victims are identifiable

Acting CEO for Gauteng Forensic Pathology Services Thembalethu Mpahlaza has revealed that only 12 of the 74 bodies of Thursday's Joburg CBD fire were identifiable while the rest were burnt beyond recognition. 

Mpahlaza who was on Friday updating the media about the process of identifying the bodies confirmed that 74 bodies were discovered. He said the pathology team was busy checking if all bodies died through fire or there were other causes of death following allegations that zama zamas also occupied the building. 

“We realised this morning that out of the 74 bodies collected only 12 were identifiable, which means they can be viewed by means of the eye. About 62 are burned beyond recognition which takes a while to finalise the identification process because we will need DNA samples from families to identify them.”

“We already have 13 bodies here at Diepkloof mortuary [in Soweto] who are burned beyond recognition and a team of police will take samples from family members. We are also counselling the families so that they get ready for face the situation. We have further arranged for the department of home affairs to be on site. There is a team of chaplains that will come to provide spiritual support.”

Spokesperson of Johannesburg Emergency Services, Robert Mulaudzi said his team would conduct a process called final sweep.

“We are going to send firefighters inside the building floor to floor to just make sure there are no other bodies that might still be trapped inside. From then we will hand over to the police. The number of people that are injured is standing at 60. Out of that number 13 are children.” 

Minister of social development, Lindiwe Zulu, said: “We need a proper co-ordinated effort to deal with what happened yesterday. We engage with province to make sure what happened does not happen in future. I call on relevant authorities to find the man who was collecting rent from the people and never cared about their safety.”

Zulu said the building doesn't belong to her department.

“We need to deal with post-traumatic stress, and the law will take its course.”

Asked about allegations that NGOs keep women and children in dilapidated buildings because people were not getting help from government, Zulu dismissed the claims.

“There is no NGO that can keep women and children under such circumstances. If you run an NGO there are due processes, standards and norms that must be followed. The department spends R82bn per year on NPOs and NGOs to do their job and I can tell there are those who are doing the best.

“Many of them go beyond what government is giving them. As far as we're concerned, we support the NGOs by training them and deregistering those who fail to do their job.”