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Four people were killed following a fire at an abandoned building in Jeppestown. (Supplied/Joburg EMS)
- Four people were killed in a fire at an abandoned building in Jeppestown.
- Joburg EMS said the blaze had also left three others injured.
- City Power said the burnt property had no registered electricity account.
Four people were killed in a fire at an abandoned building in Jeppestown, in the Johannesburg CBD, during the early hours of Saturday morning.
Joburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the blaze, which started in one of the derelict structures, had left three others injured.
Mulaudzi said a critically injured person was taken to Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital and two others were taken to a facility in Hillbrow.
He said the cause of the fire was believed to be an illegal connection.
"They are using all sorts of materials to try and divide this building, using partitions and sheet metals to create space to live in, so that they can live in these buildings like this," he said.
In May, the commission of inquiry into a devastating fire at the Usindiso building in Marshalltown, which claimed 76 lives, found the City of Johannesburg responsible - and recommended that its entity, the Johannesburg Property Company, be held accountable.
Twelve children were among those killed in the fire, which also left 86 other people injured.
The commission found that the building was abandoned in 2017 - and the City had known about the conditions and the breaching of several by-laws since 2019.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the entity had discovered that the burnt Jeppestown property, which is privately owned, had no registered electricity account.
"It has, therefore, been established that the power supply to that building was illegally connected from at least two load centres," Mangena said.
Mangena said the revenue protection team had since disconnected and confiscated illegally wired cables at the burnt building and surrounding areas near Jeppe Hostel.
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"So far, the team has removed over 4 000kg of Arial Bundle Cables, worth R120 000, since this morning and are continuing with the work of removing additional wires.
"The majority of properties in the area are factories and businesses suspected to have been hijacked, with services such as water and electricity connected unlawfully," he said.
Mangena said City Power's efforts to remove unauthorised connections were often met with violent resistance, with Jeppestown being a notable hotspot.
"Two weeks ago, one of the City Power contractors was held hostage in Turffontein during a meter auditing exercise," he said.
He said the contractor was safely released after City Power security and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department intervened.
However, the dangers faced by City Power employees are not new.
In 2022, a City Power employee was nearly killed during a cut-off operation in Hillbrow.
"The 53-year-old spent months in hospital in intensive care after he was repeatedly hit on the head with blunt objects and stones, while trying to disconnect a property that was illegally connected," Mangena said.
