Usindiso Fire: Security concerns keep confessed arsonist in private cell
The lawyer representing the man who confessed to starting the deadly 80 Albert Street fire in August 2023 said on Thursday there were concerns over his client’s safety.
Sithembiso Lawrence Mdlalose appeared before the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on charges including 76 counts of murder, 86 of attempted murder, and one of arson.
His lawyer, Dumisani Mabunda, said there was an arrangement for his client to be held in a private cell, but he would not disclose at which prison he was being kept.
“Remember that many people died here, and under normal circumstances, people are aggrieved, and obviously there are people who are not happy. There’s a drug lord and all of that, so therefore, safety is at risk,” Mabunda said.
Survivors described harrowing scenes as some leapt to their deaths when trying to escape the raging inferno in the early hours of 31 August.
Emergency personnel at the scene described the hijacked property as an “informal settlement” inside a building, with “shacks” built inside rooms, stairways, and passages.
READ: First responder tells of ‘heaps of bodies’ inside Usindiso building
On Tuesday, Mdlalose told the Usindiso Commission of Inquiry that a Tanzanian drug kingpin, with whom he had been working to feed his own addiction, instructed him to kill a man that they had earlier assaulted in one of the rooms.
The 29-year-old testified in-camera that fire he started quickly flared out of control after he tried to conceal evidence of the murder by dousing petrol on the victim’s body and then setting him alight.
While the evidence leader at the commission, Advocate Ishmael Semenya, said the damning admission could not be used in court, the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed that Mdlalose made another confession before a magistrate the next day.
READ MORE: Marshalltown fire suspect's confession can be used in court, says NPA
Meanwhile, Mdlalose’s lawyer confirmed his client was not coerced into making the second confession and that he was willing to work with investigators.
“My instructions are that he did that voluntarily and he cooperated with police at all times.”
He said it was too soon to comment on whether Mdlalose would plead guilty or seek to make any deal with the state.
“I don’t have instructions whether he’s going to plead guilty [or not guilty]. We still need to consult and take proper instructions. Remember, this matter is fairly new and still needs to be investigated.
“ So, investigations of this nature take quite a long time – it could take over a year to investigate this particular case,” he explained.
The case was postponed to allow investigators to verify the accused’s profile and address.
While the state also wanted to probe his immigration status, Mabunda confirmed to the court that Mdlalose was South African and that he had given him his ID number.
The matter returns to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on 1 February.
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