Councillor accused of acting as landlord for hijacked building to testify in Mashalltown fire inquiry
In 2018, an audit inspection by the Department of Social Services recommended that the city-owned building at 80 Albert Street in Marshalltown should be closed because it was uninhabitable. Instead, it was informally occupied until August 2023, when a fire killed 76 people. That same year, the audit inspection recommended that the building be shut down as it was uninhabitable. Instead, the JPC approached the Johannesburg Social Housing Company to purchase the building, but that idea never materialised due to Joshco’s lack of funds.
From safe haven to hijacked den – Marshalltown fire inquiry hears of building horrors as confessed arsonist appears in court