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Mail & Guardian

Fire

latest news & developments
Fires sweep through places such as schools, markets and homes and many of them do not adhere to safety protocols.
FIRE

Enforce occupational health and safety measures to minimise fires in the Great Lakes countries

Children in schools and homes, some of them for blind and autistic, are dying and injured in fires, and property is destroyed in market places

  • Robert Kigongo
3 min read
Researcher Samukelisiwe Msweli has identified plant species that are highly inflammable and those of which the flammability is low. Photo: Supplied
FIRE

Which plants fuel wildfires – and how to protect your home

Fire is part of nature and has its uses but we need to learn how to live with it safely

  • Gillian McAinsh
3 min read
School of hard knocks: Jazz drummer Gontse Makhene has a debut album in the pipeline. Photo: Solomon Moremong
DRUMMER

A phoenix from the ashes

Jazz percussionist Gontse Makhene is rebuilding his life after a devastating blaze at his home

  • Fezokuhle Mthonti
6 min read
The eternal dance: Nduduzo Makhathini recently released his third album, which is titled uNomkhubulwane. Photo: Arthur Dlamini
ABUNDANCE

uNomkhubulwane and songs of the water spirits

Nduduzo Makhathini unpacks the philosophy and traditions behind his new album

  • Nduduzo Makhathini
11 min read
The five-storey building that caught fire and claimed the lives of 77 people in Marshalltown was leased to the provincial development department for a shelter for abused women and children before it was “hijacked”
MARSHALLTOWN FIRE JUSTICE CAMPAIGN

Commission of Inquiry continues to hear testimonies of Usindiso fire that killed 77

A witness testified to covering up a murder that resulted in one of South Africa’s deadliest fires This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free…

  • Umamah Bakharia
1 min read
80 Albert Street in Marshalltown caught fire last year and claimed the lives of 77 people.
MARSHALLTOWN FIRE JUSTICE CAMPAIGN

Man due in court after confessing to starting Marshalltown building fire which killed 77

The commission of inquiry into the fire at the Usindiso building heard that a witness was trying to conceal a murder when he set the building alight This content is restricted to…

  • Umamah Bakharia
1 min read
Sunday’s fire occurred less than six months after an inferno claimed the lives of 77 people in the Marshalltown area of the city. (Johannesburg EMS)
EMS

Woman due in court over Joburg building fire that killed two

A ‘domestic dispute’ is said to have been behind the blaze which destroyed a residential building in the city centre on Sunday

  • Umamah Bakharia
3 min read
Former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse. (Photo by Gallo Images/Luba Lesolle)
ALBERT STREET

Joburg CBD: How politics brought the city to its knees

Two former mayors tell of Johannesburg’s challenges, which led to last week’s fatal blaze

  • Lizeka Tandwa
  • Paddy Harper
9 min read
ALBERT STREET

80 Albert Street: ‘It was a place for poor people, it’s not like we wanted to stay there’

The 80 Albert Street blaze was a tragedy waiting to happen – as are many other buildings in the city

  • Sheree Bega
10 min read
Photo by Umamah Bakharia
ALBERT STREET FIRE JOHANNESBURG

Death stalked 80 Albert Street in downtown Joburg

As the ashes cool and xenophobia licks at our shared humanity, it is time for a reckoning with who we have become

  • Richard Pithouse
7 min read
77 people died and when the building they lived in burnt down in Johannesburg.
ANC

Open a commission of inquiry into Joburg inferno

At least 73 people have died and scores injured when the building they lived in burnt down

  • Editorial
2 min read
Disaster: Firefighters at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital after a fire broke out on 16 April last year in Johannesburg. Patients were evacuated to other nearby state hospitals. Photo: Elizabeth Sejake/ Rapport/Gallo Images
ARSON

Gauteng Health ‘ignorant’ of arson at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital

Gauteng Health officials say they haven’t seen the police forensic report yet

  • Chris Bateman
8 min read
Zandile Christmas Mafe. (Photo by Xabiso Mkhabela/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
DALI MPOFU

Parliament fire: Alleged arsonist’s bail appeal dismissed

Defence does not rule out further action after bail dismissal

  • Eunice Masson
2 min read
A member of a spill cleaning crew removes dead fish from the river in the uMhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve in Durban on July 18, 2021. – South African authorities said on July 17, 2021, they were investigating possible pollution suspected to be linked to a spill at a chemical plant attacked during last week’s riots after dead fish washed ashore. The spill was identified on July 15, after an agrochemical warehouse near the eastern port city of Durban storing chemicals used for making herbicides, pesticides and fungicides was set ablaze. African authorities are investigating possible pollution suspected to be linked to a spill at a chemical plant attacked during recent riots in area. The agrochemical warehouse which stores chemicals used for making herbicides, pesticides and fungicides was set ablaze during the unrest that started last week. (GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP)
CHEMICAL SPILL

‘South Africa must learn from its environmental disasters’

Although a legal framework exists, regulation and implementation fall through the cracks, as shown by the UPL chemical spill in KwaZulu-Natal

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
The 2022 State of the Nation address (Sona) will be hosted at the Cape Town City Hall, where former president Nelson Mandela addressed the nation for the first time after his release from prison in 1990, parliament announced on Friday. (Photo by Charlie Shoemaker/Getty Images)
CAPE TOWN CITY HALL

State of the Nation address to be held in historical Cape Town City Hall

The City Hall was chosen for its technical infrastructure and for being the building from which Nelson Mandela gave his address when he was freed and when he was elected president

  • Eunice Masson
2 min read