Two years on: Survivors of Johannesburg fire still await support and housing

Africanews (in English)

Two years on: Survivors of Johannesburg fire still await support and housing  Two years on, many families who escaped the blaze remain homeless and feel let down by what they see as the government's failure to make good on promises to rehouse them and tackle housing safety issues.  READ MORE : http://www.africanews.com/2025/08/30/two-years-on-survivors-of-johannesburg-fire-still-await-support-and-housing  Subscribe on our Dailymotion channel and receive all the latest news from the continent.    Africanews is available in English and French.  Website : www.africanews.com  Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/africanews.channel/  Twitter : https://twitter.com/africanews

Transcript

00:00It has been two years since 76 people died in a building fire in Johannesburg.

00:06Two years on now, many families who escaped the blaze remain homeless and feel let down by what they see as a government's failure

00:13to make good on promises to rehouse them and tackle housing safety issues.

00:18Different places they take us, but even where they take us, they didn't provide us with nothing at all.

00:26Me, I don't see the change. If people are still living like this, I don't see any change.

00:35Tobe Kabiela, who acts as a police volunteer, explains how she was shot earlier this year.

00:40She was asleep in her home. She said she has just had a gunshot and was hit by a bullet.

00:46I was shot while I was sleeping inside my house. Now I have an operation.

00:51Doctors, they didn't remove bullets inside from me.

00:54Every time when I'm walking, I have to buy pills because sometimes it's paining.

00:59It's not safe here. I really do blame government what is happening.

01:03According to South African lawyer, Nomza Mozondo,

01:06it has been a struggle to get people out of so-called temporary emergency accommodation

01:11and a lasting change will take time.

01:13In that time, it's unlikely that much will be done.

01:19But our hope is that the process won't be abandoned after the G20.

01:24Our hope is that the Treasury's commitment, the President's commitment to improving the Jonasbeck inner city

01:30will outlive the G20 and hopefully ensure that there is dignified housing for the poor in the inner city

01:37and ensure that we don't have another Osindis.

01:40With South Africa due to host the G8 leader's summit in November,

01:45President Ramaphosa has ordered that Johannesburg's inner city in Eberhus

01:48to be cleared up ahead of the gathering.

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