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Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
DEFYING all odds and exhibiting her selfless nature even in the face of overwhelming adversity, an elderly Zimbabwean woman, Alice Garwe, courageously went back into a Johannesburg building in South Africa that burnt down early on Thursday morning, rescuing a two-year-old child that had been left behind as tenants fled the deadly inferno.
The mother of the two-year-old, is still missing, with the Zimbabwean consul still making frantic efforts to locate her, but sources claimed she was not in the building at the time of the fire. The devastating inferno in central Johannesburg has so far left at least 76 people dead- ranking it among the deadliest tragedies South Africa has ever witnessed since the Coalbrook Mine disaster in January 1960, which saw more than 400 miners lose their lives.
Over 50 people, all residents of the “hijacked” building, were also injured in the catastrophic blaze. Hijacked buildings are usually City of Johannesburg owned pieces of real estate that have been forcibly taken over by criminal elements that charge some tenants to rent what are termed “shacks”. The building, regarded as informal settlement by authorities, reportedly had as many as 80 of these shacks.
Among the people living in the five-storey building, located on the corner of Albert and Delvers streets, were a number of Zimbabweans, including an elderly woman who showed selfless instincts, turning back to face the raging flames as tenants scrambled to get away from the blaze, as she realised that a hapless two-year-old was at the risk being left behind to the mercy of the inferno.
In an interview with Sunday News, Zimbabwe Consul-General in Johannesburg, Mr Eria Phiri said as the consul they were moved by a show of such selfless courage in the face of tragedy. Garwe, who is thought to be in her 60s, had sacrificed her own belongings in order to help rescue the hapless child.
“We were just amazed at this very selfless act of bravery by an elderly lady in very dangerous circumstances. When the fire started, everyone’s initial reaction, was to run out of the flat. However, as everyone ran out, this elderly lady was the one that realised that there is a two-year-old infant that is still in the flat and she ran back to get the child despite the danger to herself.
She managed to get the child out and that was then she thought about rescuing her own property. On her way back to salvage her belongings, that is when she met a great ball of fire and she knew that she had sacrificed her stuff for something good. We are greatly impressed by this show of bravery in the face of adversity which in itself is uniquely African and that is why we salute this elderly lady,” he said.
Mr Phiri said that the old lady was a minder for the child, whose mother they were still in search of.
“The mother of the child disappeared last Monday and right now, we are still in the process of trying to locate her and we have been given an indication of where she might work from. Right now, the child is in the care of the Department of Social Department,” he said.
The consul-general said the heroic old lady was one of a number of Zimbabweans who were now being given shelter by authorities, as they tried to piece together their lives after the devastating fire.
He said they were working with other stakeholders to see what more could be done to ease their plight. The consul-general said they were as many as 20 Zimbabweans that need food and shelter for at least a month.
“Since Thursday, when this great tragedy occurred, we have been providing shelter and food to the Zimbabwean families that were affected and we continue to do so.
As of now, we are also appealing to our business community here in South Africa to compliment the embassy’s efforts because an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us. We are hopeful that we are going to receive more assistance as we go forward,” he said.
Mr Phiri said they were also processing the number of Zimbabweans that had lost their lives in the inferno, if any. Once that process was done, the process of repatriating the bodies of those that had lost their lives would begin.
“The people that were injured are currently in a government hospital, so in that sense, they are covered in teams of food and shelter for now. When they are discharged from hospital, that is when government will then take over to see how they are assisted afterwards.
In terms of those that passed away in the fire, government will also sort out the logistics with regards to how their bodies can be repatriated. As of now, we are still establishing the number of Zimbabweans that have perished in the accident, but for now we can not confirm if anyone died,” he said.
South African Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla, had set today (Sunday) as the deadline for all autopsies to be concluded for those who died.
“As of now, we cannot really say that this body is Zimbabwean or this one is not. In one hospital, we identified three bodies that we think might be Zimbabwean but that is still unconfirmed. It is a something that the pathological and forensic experts have said will take more time, so we hope to conclude the process in a week or so,” he said.
On Friday, Dr Phaahla told journalists that the 62 remains of those who perished were not recognisable, and they needed families who suspect that their loved ones could have died in the fire to come forward for clinical tests to confirm if they lost any family members.
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