For two years Kiki Kwimdim, a Zimbabwe national, has been living rent-free at a hijacked building in the Joburg CBD.
The building has no electricity and water supplies, and living spaces are partitioned by curtains and cardboard boxes to create little "apartments" for residents.
Although she and her boyfriend walk out of the building to get water, which they use also for flushing the toilet the couple share with about 30 families, use one toilet that doesn't flush, the 30-year-old woman says her life at No 5 Davies Street, Doornfontein, is relatively uneventful and there is no crime.
“When I came here he (boyfriend) fetched me from Park Station and I started living here with him. We don’t pay any sort of rent and everyone just mind their own business. There’s no electricity and we get water with buckets at the tap right in front of the building,” said Kwimdim.
She said conditions in the building weren’t the best but where they were was better than others.
“We keep the place clean, we don’t let it get bad as the other buildings I’ve been in.
“There’s not a big concern about the building catching fire because there's ventilation from the top rooms to bottom. We didn’t completely close it off so that air can come in,” said Kwimdim who survives by doing odd jobs.
Industry Building, where she lives, is one of many dilapidated buildings in Joburg that have been hijacked.
On Wednesday, the commission of inquiry into the Usindiso fire that claimed 76 people in August last year visited the five-storey building.
The members of the commission are inspecting some of the buildings that have been declared unsafe in the Joburg CBD, to see what could be done to better the condition for the residents.
WATCH | 'We are safe' – Hijacked building's residents assure Usindiso fire commissioners
Residents says safety not a problem
Image: Thulani Mbele
For two years Kiki Kwimdim, a Zimbabwe national, has been living rent-free at a hijacked building in the Joburg CBD.
The building has no electricity and water supplies, and living spaces are partitioned by curtains and cardboard boxes to create little "apartments" for residents.
Although she and her boyfriend walk out of the building to get water, which they use also for flushing the toilet the couple share with about 30 families, use one toilet that doesn't flush, the 30-year-old woman says her life at No 5 Davies Street, Doornfontein, is relatively uneventful and there is no crime.
“When I came here he (boyfriend) fetched me from Park Station and I started living here with him. We don’t pay any sort of rent and everyone just mind their own business. There’s no electricity and we get water with buckets at the tap right in front of the building,” said Kwimdim.
She said conditions in the building weren’t the best but where they were was better than others.
“We keep the place clean, we don’t let it get bad as the other buildings I’ve been in.
“There’s not a big concern about the building catching fire because there's ventilation from the top rooms to bottom. We didn’t completely close it off so that air can come in,” said Kwimdim who survives by doing odd jobs.
Industry Building, where she lives, is one of many dilapidated buildings in Joburg that have been hijacked.
On Wednesday, the commission of inquiry into the Usindiso fire that claimed 76 people in August last year visited the five-storey building.
The members of the commission are inspecting some of the buildings that have been declared unsafe in the Joburg CBD, to see what could be done to better the condition for the residents.
Residents said safety was not a problem as they looked out for each other. If anything, they said, violence was usually outside of the building. The building's community has an indoor tuck shop and a small fruit and vegetable market in the area.
'Lethargic' Joburg bosses face DC over Usindiso fire tragedy
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