Johannesburg is in the news again, hardly six weeks after an explosion in busy Bree Street. Today we woke up to the news of a fire that has gutted a multi-storey hijacked building. It is estimated that more than 70 people lost their lives and many others were admitted to hospitals.
The buildings, which are dilapidated and are in most cases inhabited by illegal immigrants, are a hot potato and a political playground. The failure of our government to control the influx of illegal immigrants has led to the influx, coupled with the well-orchestrated defiance by NGO’s and human rights groups who are quick to take the government to court to oppose any means to move the occupants of such buildings without providing a solution to the crisis, thus holding government at ransom.
The multiparty arrangement in Johannesburg during the acting mayoral stint of the Patriotic Alliance’s deputy president MMC Kenny Kunene tackled the issue in mid-June and he was met with resistance. Had he got the support such a tragedy would have been avoided, but politics won the day.
The ruling African National Congress should support minister of home affairs Aaron Motsoaledi in his endeavour to eradicate free flow of migrants, and those benefitting from hijacked buidings should be charged with murder in situations like this, politics aside.
Lesego Raymond Shabangu, Pretoria West
READER LETTER | Joburg fire tragedy was avoidable
Image: Antonio Muchave
Johannesburg is in the news again, hardly six weeks after an explosion in busy Bree Street. Today we woke up to the news of a fire that has gutted a multi-storey hijacked building. It is estimated that more than 70 people lost their lives and many others were admitted to hospitals.
The buildings, which are dilapidated and are in most cases inhabited by illegal immigrants, are a hot potato and a political playground. The failure of our government to control the influx of illegal immigrants has led to the influx, coupled with the well-orchestrated defiance by NGO’s and human rights groups who are quick to take the government to court to oppose any means to move the occupants of such buildings without providing a solution to the crisis, thus holding government at ransom.
The multiparty arrangement in Johannesburg during the acting mayoral stint of the Patriotic Alliance’s deputy president MMC Kenny Kunene tackled the issue in mid-June and he was met with resistance. Had he got the support such a tragedy would have been avoided, but politics won the day.
The ruling African National Congress should support minister of home affairs Aaron Motsoaledi in his endeavour to eradicate free flow of migrants, and those benefitting from hijacked buidings should be charged with murder in situations like this, politics aside.
Lesego Raymond Shabangu, Pretoria West
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