On Friday September 8 2023, hundreds of mourners gathered at the Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg city centre to memorialise the lives of over 70 people who died in the fire at 80 Alberts Street in Marshalltown. Joining some of the survivors of the deadly August 31 fire and the families of those who passed, I was struck by many things that were absent from an occasion of such gravity.
What was missing from the memorial service were some of the things we all lost in the fire. It was more than a week since the fire. Less than 10 people had been identified and buried at that time. More than 60 bodies remained unidentified.
Over 300 people remained displaced. Most in temporary shelters but almost 100 people trying to find food and medical care outside of the government’s relief efforts for fear of victimisation, detention or losing touch with loved ones and belongings.
Reports mount of orphaned or missing children. South Africans and migrants have lost identity documents, making it hard to prove their relationships to presumed deceased people.
The false narrative that the victims were only migrants and illegally in SA has caused the news cycle to move on quickly and the politicians to lack care because the tragedy in their minds represented mere victims rather than future voters.
The memorial service was organised by the South African Council of Churches, supported by community organisers in the inner city and managers of the temporary shelters. Four hundred people were victims of the fire but less than 100 were transported from shelters to what was the only memorial service marking this event.
Government officials were conspicuously absent from the event, even though it was the shelters organised by the state that bussed survivors to the event.
Survivors sharing their stories of trauma and loss had not accessed counselling services or support for charting a path forward. As a country we lost in the fire the veneer of a competent and caring government, able to coordinate efforts for a humanitarian response to a human tragedy.
Within a week of the fire City of Johannesburg officials have conducted three raids on buildings around the site of the fire. With no or little warning officials have evicted people from buildings, citing safety concerns, with no plan for where those families should go.
Trumpeting a hollow line that evicted people should go to shelters, already overflowing temporary shelters in Bez Valley, Jeppestown and Hillbrow have no provisions for more people.
On Thursday, victims of the fire gathered outside the building requesting assistance to access their identity documents in the building. With burns on their backs and casts on legs broken from jumping out of the windows of the burning building, 20 survivors were outnumbered by a rapid increase in public order police wielding rifles, seemingly protecting the ward councillors from the people rather than serving the victims. The only possible threat posed by that crowd was their vulnerability.
As people with nothing more to lose, the threat of their anger loomed larger than compassion for their need. This tragedy is far from over. Until people affected by this fire are able to heal their literal wounds, bury their loved ones and rebuild their lives, our duty remains to journey survivors out of despair into hope.
Hope in this situation has been located in the one good thing I have found because of the fire; the commitment of community activists who have and continue to show up for survivors in and outside the shelters and fragmented state response.
A small but growing group of social and political activists and organisers have stood in the gap left by the state’s response. The unseen and unsung heroes of this disaster response are volunteers who have quietly and dutifully organised food, blankets, medical care, search parties and burial processes for victims of the Johannesburg fire.
Often acting as a bridge between the state’s efforts and community needs, we owe a debt of gratitude to the people who show up when the headlines die down and the politicians lose interest, reminding us once again that we the people can govern and must not lose faith in our democracy if we have each other.
TESSA DOOMS | Our duty remains to journey survivors out of despair into hope
Unseen and unsung heroes of Johannesburg inner city fire disaster are volunteers
Image: Fani Mahuntsi
On Friday September 8 2023, hundreds of mourners gathered at the Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg city centre to memorialise the lives of over 70 people who died in the fire at 80 Alberts Street in Marshalltown. Joining some of the survivors of the deadly August 31 fire and the families of those who passed, I was struck by many things that were absent from an occasion of such gravity.
What was missing from the memorial service were some of the things we all lost in the fire. It was more than a week since the fire. Less than 10 people had been identified and buried at that time. More than 60 bodies remained unidentified.
Over 300 people remained displaced. Most in temporary shelters but almost 100 people trying to find food and medical care outside of the government’s relief efforts for fear of victimisation, detention or losing touch with loved ones and belongings.
Reports mount of orphaned or missing children. South Africans and migrants have lost identity documents, making it hard to prove their relationships to presumed deceased people.
The false narrative that the victims were only migrants and illegally in SA has caused the news cycle to move on quickly and the politicians to lack care because the tragedy in their minds represented mere victims rather than future voters.
The memorial service was organised by the South African Council of Churches, supported by community organisers in the inner city and managers of the temporary shelters. Four hundred people were victims of the fire but less than 100 were transported from shelters to what was the only memorial service marking this event.
Government officials were conspicuously absent from the event, even though it was the shelters organised by the state that bussed survivors to the event.
Survivors sharing their stories of trauma and loss had not accessed counselling services or support for charting a path forward. As a country we lost in the fire the veneer of a competent and caring government, able to coordinate efforts for a humanitarian response to a human tragedy.
Within a week of the fire City of Johannesburg officials have conducted three raids on buildings around the site of the fire. With no or little warning officials have evicted people from buildings, citing safety concerns, with no plan for where those families should go.
Trumpeting a hollow line that evicted people should go to shelters, already overflowing temporary shelters in Bez Valley, Jeppestown and Hillbrow have no provisions for more people.
On Thursday, victims of the fire gathered outside the building requesting assistance to access their identity documents in the building. With burns on their backs and casts on legs broken from jumping out of the windows of the burning building, 20 survivors were outnumbered by a rapid increase in public order police wielding rifles, seemingly protecting the ward councillors from the people rather than serving the victims. The only possible threat posed by that crowd was their vulnerability.
As people with nothing more to lose, the threat of their anger loomed larger than compassion for their need. This tragedy is far from over. Until people affected by this fire are able to heal their literal wounds, bury their loved ones and rebuild their lives, our duty remains to journey survivors out of despair into hope.
Hope in this situation has been located in the one good thing I have found because of the fire; the commitment of community activists who have and continue to show up for survivors in and outside the shelters and fragmented state response.
A small but growing group of social and political activists and organisers have stood in the gap left by the state’s response. The unseen and unsung heroes of this disaster response are volunteers who have quietly and dutifully organised food, blankets, medical care, search parties and burial processes for victims of the Johannesburg fire.
Often acting as a bridge between the state’s efforts and community needs, we owe a debt of gratitude to the people who show up when the headlines die down and the politicians lose interest, reminding us once again that we the people can govern and must not lose faith in our democracy if we have each other.
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