DA: MECs must go

Following the deadly fire at the Bank of Lisbon building in the Johannesburg central business district, the DA’s Gauteng premier candidate, Solly Msimanga, has said government may be culpable in the tragedy, while an urgent motion to have two Gauteng MECs dismissed for their role in the tragedy, has been brought.

The building on Pixley ka Isaka Seme Street (formerly Sauer Street) is home to the Gauteng health and human settlements departments.

Msimanga said the province would need to take responsibility for the deaths.

“Despite the fact that the Gauteng provincial government was aware that the Bank of Lisbon building was not compliant with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, nothing was done to ensure safety of the employees working in this building,” said Msimanga, who is also mayor of Tshwane.

Earlier yesterday, Jack Bloom and Alan Fuchs, the DA’s shadow MECs for health and infrastructure, respectively, said they had submitted a motion of “urgent public importance to the Gauteng Legislature calling for two Gauteng MECs to resign over their failure to heed warnings about the unsafe building”.

“We call on infrastructure development MEC Jacob Mamabolo, health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa to take accountability for their failure to heed multiple warnings that the Bank of Lisbon building was a health hazard and staff should have been moved.” – ANA