Gauteng Social Dev refutes claims of holding Marshalltown fire building lease agreement
The Gauteng Department of Social Development has refuted claims by the City of Johannesburg that they held a lease agreement for the building on 80 Albert Street.
In August, 77 people died in the building in the heart of Marshalltown when a fire tore through all five storeys.
The building is believed to have been hijacked in 2018, with the City of Joburg claiming it last leased the building to social development.
City of Joburg city manager Floyd Brink previously claimed the building on 80 Albert Street had been leased to the provincial social development department.
“This is a building that we previously leased to the provincial social development department where they used it specifically as a shelter for abused women,” said Brink.
But social development has refuted these claims, saying they were only involved in finding the non-profit organisation (NPO) to run the women’s shelter.
Provincial spokesperson Nkosana Mtolo said: “According to our records, I can confirm that the department doesn’t have any lease agreement with the City of Johannesburg.
“Between 2011 and 2013, about ten years ago, we were funding them. They were running a shelter which caters for women, so that is as far as our involvement was.”
The Johannesburg Property Company was responsible for the maintenance of the building at the time of the fire.
BUILDING HIJACKED
In 2018, the building on 80 Albert Street was hijacked when a group of women allegedly revolted against the NPO and refused to leave what was then a women’s and children’s shelter.
The shelter was being run by Usindiso Ministries, spearheaded by Pastor Jean Bradley.
In 2010, Bradley registered Usindiso Ministries as an NPO together with four other directors.
She ran the shelter for women and children for 15 years before things allegedly took a turn for the worse in 2018.
Former director and chairperson of the Usindiso Ministries board, Pastor Glyn Weldschidt, describes how they left the women and children’s shelter on 80 Albert Street without looking back in 2018.
“There were a couple of women that needed to move because they were becoming an issue and so when those women were told to move they started to rebel. They just stood up and said they’ve got ‘connections’ and they are going to hurt us, as the board, if we don’t move – and so we moved.”
He said they left printers, phones, fridges, and stoves, fearing for their lives if they were to return to get these things.
He explained that depending on a woman’s circumstances, the shelter would house them for between six months to a year, providing them with certain skills until they were able to get back on their feet.
He alleged Bradley has gone into hiding and he has been unable to get hold of her.
Attempts to reach Bradley proved futile.
-EWN
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