“Caring societies will never be achieved as long as the injustices that create atrocities like the fires at Grenfell Tower and Usindiso are allowed to continue”, writes Koketso Moeti, 2017 New Voices Fellow, in her latest piece for the Daily Maverick.
Writing in response to the deadly fires in Johannesburg that led to at least 77 deaths in the Usindiso building, Koketso recalls the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London – the deadliest fire in more than a century in Britain. While recognizing that there are big differences between the two fires, she highlights in this piece the several “haunting parallels” including the government repsonse to them.
similarity is the respective governments’ responses to the fires. In both cases the governments turned to an official inquiry – a tool governments often turn to when they want to be seen to be doing something. While the one in South Africa is yet to start – after an abrupt postponement – the British one closed after 400 days of evidence, 300,000 documents and 1,500 witness statements
The deadliest fire in more than a century in Britain led to at least 72 deaths and scores of injured residents, and changed the lives of the affected people forever. As flames engulfed the Usindiso building in Johannesburg, leaving 77 dead, many injured and hundreds displaced, Grenfell Tower in London came to mind. There are big differences between the two, of course. Most notable is that those in Grenfell Tower were in council-provided housing, while those in Johannesburg occupied a building abandoned by the City.
Acclaimed archivist Professor Verne Harris argues that inquiries in South Africa have not led to justice, referring to the country’s long history of establishing them and their outcomes.
“Whatever the intentions of those working in them, no matter the quality of the work they do, they are designed to create a simulacrum of accountability, of justice,” Harris writes.
His words resonate, even beyond South Africa’s borders. While it is acknowledged that the Grenfell Tower Inquiry exposed the incompetence and negligence that led to the 2017 fire, some have expressed concern that the inquiry has delayed justice.
But, as seen with the limited progress made in implementing the recommendations that are currently available, it is not the inquiry that will necessarily lead to change. Some of the major milestones made to improve the living conditions of those in social housing are a result of organising, including by the survivors and bereaved families who came together under the banner of Grenfell United. This year the Social Housing Bill was made law, which gives social housing watchdogs greater powers to act against landlords who provide substandard housing.
