Lerato Mbhiza
THE SARS building in Rissik Street, Marshalltown became the third structure to catch fire in the Joburg CBD in the last month as firefighters and emergency services were on Wednesday called to evacuate the staff and to put out the blaze.
Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Nana Radebe said two fire engines and fire fighters arrived on the scene on Wednesday to fight the blaze and all workers had been evacuated from the building and there were no injuries reported.
SARS’s regional director Nathaniel Mabetwa, said that all their records had been digitised so they didn’t lose any information.
“If there are any files that would have been affected, those would have been archived. We’ve got enough records that are digitised, so we don’t actually have the paper-based approach that we used to have years ago.”
The fire comes after the City of Johannesburg administration had to move out of its offices in Braamfontein because of faulty transformers that triggered a fire at the weekend.
A few weeks ago a deadly inferno at Usindiso Building in Marshalltown resulted in the deaths of 77 people and scores injured and left homeless. A commission of inquiry into what caused the Joburg CBD has since been established.
Last week, another fire broke out in the same area two blocks away from Usindiso Building. It is alleged that the building had been hijacked and that residents had erected shacks inside the three-storey structure.
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