Bewildered CBD dusts itself off after gas blast

NOW that the cause of the Joburg CBD explosion that left slabs of concrete upended, vehicles overturned and close to 50 people injured with one fatality has come to light, it will provide some relief for victims who’ve been wondering what caused the tragedy.

So far, according to Joburg city manager Floyd Brink, the explosion was caused by a gas leak from an old municipal pipeline. There have been many gas-related explosions in Joburg. Most of them have been accidental but some exposed the lack of maintenance from authorities and lack of action to curb illegal mining.

There’s also a flagrant disregard for the city’s bylaws from residents and businesses that operate in the CBD. Brink is leading a team of officials who have since taken over communication of the Joburg CBD explosion from the likes of Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Joburg City Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda.

During a technical media briefing on Friday, Brink confirmed officials had detected the old municipal gas line, which was still active, and said they would be working to close it swiftly.

The cause of the explosion, he said, was a gas leak, but they were still not sure what the source of the leak was.

Illegal mining and acts of terrorism have been ruled out by civil engineer Johan Lagrange, a consultant for the City, who has pointed out an accidental leak as a possible cause of the explosion. What stands out from his statement is that city officials were caught by surprise that the old pipeline existed.

Well-connected companies in the civil engineering discipline stand to coin it when the Joburg CBD begins repairing and rebuilding.

Without knowing the source of the blast or the leak, there's no guarantee that this can't happen in future.

More needs to be done to ensure that there’s no repetition of such a disaster and that there are measures to deploy early warning systems and avert this.

The time is now for the city to take its tagline, “A world class African city”, seriously.