ONE of the survivors of the Usindiso Building fire in Marshalltown, Thabisile Mthembu blames herself for the death of a church woman she had advised to relocate to the building.
Testifying during the commission of enquiry in Joburg on Monday, 5 February, Thabisile recalled how she crawled out of the fire on the fourth floor.
She did this until she arrived at an area where she could go down the stairs to the third level, where two men were trying to break down the burglar bar.
After they managed to remove the burglar bar, Thabisile said the men gave back her phone and she managed to leave the building to join the other residents who had gathered at Emaxhoseni informal settlement just next to the guttered building.
Standing outside, Thabisile said she watched how the fire had engulfed the building. While many people were still fearful that the blaze would spread over to the informal settlement, they decided to move over to Delver Street.
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It was in that moment she realised that her friend, uncle and the church woman she had brought to the building were not there.
“I stood there and did not know who to call. At that time, I started to blame myself because these people had come to live in the building because I invited them to come live here. I blamed myself,” she said.
She said she received a call from her friend's sister informing her that her uncle and friend were safe on the other side of the building, but the church woman has not been found to this day.
Another survivor Zabi Khumalo detailed how the body of his girlfriend was among the first to be brought out of the burning building.
Zabi claimed that he and his girlfriend lost each other by the stairs while trying to exit the building and he believes that is where she died.
He said her death has left a whole in his heart, which he said has affected him immensely.
