South Africa: Three Arrested for Kruger Park Tragedy

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BuaNews (Tshwane)

23 July 2008
Posted to the web 23 July 2008

Bathandwa Mbola
Pretoria

Three people have been arrested in connection with the fire that broke out at the Kruger Park flats in Pretoria central on Tuesday.

The fire claimed the lives of five residents, including a toddler.

The fire, which is said to have started in a rubbish chute on one of the top floors of the high-rise building, also left hundreds of residents without homes as the building was evacuated.

Helicopters helped airlift people who were trapped on the roof of the building, while others were lucky enough to escape the blaze.

Some of the deceased were trapped on the higher floors and jumped out of windows to their death to escape the blaze and some died of smoke inhalation. Another 25 others including a fire officer were injured.

Police superintendent Eugene Opperman told BuaNews three men have been arrested.

"We believe that there were criminal elements behind the fire that broke out. For now we have stopped anyone from going into the building because our experts are busy conducting investigations into what really happened and to assess damage to the property."

This morning, police forensic teams were busy conducting investigations into the cause of the accident and assessing the damage to the block of flats. Police have also been monitoring the situation outside the flats where residents are gathered.

The Tshwane Metropolitan Police were able to register the traumatised residents and escort some of them into the building to collect their belongings.

Sharon Mabaso, 26, who has a 12 month old baby, could not hold back her tears as she spoke to BuaNews.

"I'm not sure if I will still find my belongings inside...I was at work when the fire broke. For now my baby does not have clothes and food and I also did not go to work," Ms Mabaso said.

She said they spent the night at a friend's place, but many residents did not have any friends or family nearby.

The Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was able to find alternative accommodation for the residents in Akasia and on Wednesday morning organised food for the elderly and children.

However, Patrick Ndou, 33, said he was angry because all he wanted was his belongings, but he was told it was not safe to go into the building.

"What the municipality is doing is unfair because all we want is our belongings. We couldn't sleep because the accommodation they provided was not enough for all of us," Mr Ndou told BuaNews.

On Tuesday, the Red Ants arrived to evict some of the residents who had defaulted on their rent payments. The move angered residents. The city had earlier issued 39 people with notices of eviction.

Residents began protesting the evictions in the courtyard of the building.

Tshwane Mayor Gwen Ramokgopa last week visited the flats to explain that the municipality would be evacuating the building so that renovations could be done to the building which is in a poor state.

Tuesday's evictions were aimed solely at defaulting tenants and were not linked to the renovation plans, the council said.

In a statement on Monday, the city described the incident as "regrettable."

"From the humanitarian point of view we instructed the suspension of the evictions of the rest of the 39 people."

The city had called on residents since last year to find alternative accommodation as the complexes were to undergo renovation while it also conveyed condolences to the families of the dead.

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