Man Confessed About Causing Johannesburg Building Fire That Killed 76 While Trying To Burn A Body (X image @ maetsebane)

A man was arrested after he admitted that he caused the Johannesburg fire that killed 76 people last year. He said he caused the fire while trying to get rid of the body of someone he had killed by strangling. The appalling confession came while the man was testifying at public inquiry about the night time fire that happened in Johannesburg, which was considered as South Africa’s worst disasters with death toll of 76. The incident happened in August 2023.

The 29-year-old man, whose name was not revealed, said that he had killed a man in the basement of a rundown building on the night of the fire by beating and strangling him, as reported by South Africa’s media report of the testimony. The man said he then poured gasoline on the man’s body and set it on fire with a match. He said that he was a drug user and was told to kill the man by a Tanzanian drug dealer who lived in the building.

The man was arrested within few hours of his testimony. Police said he would appear in Johannesburg court within few days, though exact date was not given. He is also facing 120 counts of attempted murder, and charges of arson, said police.

The inquiry that the man was testifying was not a criminal inquiry. His confession barged in as completes surprise. The inquiry was about looking into what caused the fire and what safety failure might have caused the huge death toll. The man testifying as he was a resident of the same building.

The panel that was in charge of the inquiry ordered that he should not be identified after his testimony. A lawyer who was leading the questioning of the witnesses said that his confession couldn’t be used against him because it was not a criminal hearing.

South Africa media referred to him as Mr. X, while reporting about his confession of causing the tragic fire, that ripped through the dilapidated five-story building. The incident claimed lives of 76, including 12 children and wounding more than 80.

The tragic incident drew global attention to Johannesburg’s long standing problem of “hijacked building”, and rundown structures that have been taken over by squatters abandoned by authorities. Officials said that the old centre of the African continent’s most important economic hub have many such buildings.

Though the building was owned by the city of Johannesburg, it had been taken over by illegal landlords, who were renting out space for hundreds of poor people who appeared desperate for a place to live. Several of the building’s occupants were believed to be immigrants suspected of being in South Africa illegally.

During his testimony, the man said that the building was a haven of criminality and was being run down by drug dealers. He also said that there were more bodies in the basement of the building, which he referred to as a “slaughterhouse”, before the fire.

Though South Africa opened a criminal case against the fire issue five months ago, no one arrested until the testimony of the man. Emergency service officials said that many of the building’s fire exits were locked or chained closed that night, making the situation worst. Witnesses and health officials reported about people jumping out of the building, some even from as high as three floors up, to escape the fire.

Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African President ordered the inquiry into the tragic incident of fire. The inquiry was started in October last year, by hearing testimony from the emergency services personnel who were first to respond to the fire in the early morning hours of August 31.