The death of three firemen in South Africa has shocked the country, with many feeling the blaze at a 26-floor government building in Johannesburg reveals a reckless attitude to health and safety by elected officials.
“If there was water in the building, our brothers would have survived and we would have been able to save the building,” Muzikayise Zwane, a fireman from the Johannesburg Central Station, told mourners at an emotional memorial for his colleagues.
“They were robbed of their lives because the building did not have water. They died because the building was non-compliant, it wasn’t safe.”
Mr Zwane was part of the first team to respond to the fire on 5 September in central Johannesburg.
It was meant to be a routine call-out, but something went terribly wrong.
The firemen discovered the building had no water too late – and three men who had gone into it to save lives, lost theirs. Read more