Gauteng Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland says the largely unaddressed fire safety risks at the Johannesburg High Court – which resulted in emergency services finding it would be unsafe to send fire fighters into the building – are now a 'life-or-death" situation.

"There are hundreds of people who work in this building every day, never mind the hundreds who come here as professionals or witnesses or whatever the case might be. And there’s at least a moral responsibility on me for the safety of people in the building," he told News24.

"This is why I'm taking this step. I've run out of road. What does one do? Do I wait until after there’s a fire and say, 'I'm awfully sorry, folks'?"

Sutherland's decision to publicly appeal for the government to urgently address the fire safety crisis at the High Court comes after the Johannesburg CBD has been ravaged by fatal and highly destructive fires – the worst of which was the August Marshalltown blaze that left 77 people dead.

News24 has previously reported that Johannesburg firefighters estimated that they tackled between eight to 10 fires a day in the inner city, excluding veld fires. Private firefighters said they see three to four building and car fires daily in the inner city.

In this context, the findings of an 11-page April 2022 City of Johannesburg fire inspection report on the High Court building are truly concerning.

No safe evacuation guaranteed

“This building does not provide a safe environment for the occupiers/users anymore. In case of a fire the safe evacuation of occupiers/users is not guaranteed.

“In addition, in case of a fire it will be unsafe to send any operational firefighters into the building because the fire doors that serve as protection of openings and division areas in the emergency routes, division areas, smoke control and required fire installation systems (smoke detection systems, gas suppression systems) do not comply anymore”.

The report further issued an instruction that all the contraventions identified during the city’s fire inspection had to be addressed and remedied “on or before 25 April 2022”.

While the High Court’s fire extinguishers have recently been re-serviced, it appeared that none of the other fire risk contraventions identified by the City of Johannesburg – including the fact that fire escape doors were locked, fire exits were blocked and inaccessible, fire doors did not work and there was no emergency lighting on the fire escape stairways – had been addressed.

When News24 visited the High Court building earlier this month, we also found a badly ventilated tenth floor crammed to the brim with mountains of court files and plate glass windows often shining directly onto piles of papers.

That floor, Sutherland admits, is a source of major anxiety.

"The place is utterly inappropriate for the poor people who work there to do anything, but it’s also exposed to plate glass windows all along the north front and all you need is the right sunbeam on the right glass that was left there overnight to trigger a spark and all that dusty stuff goes up in smoke," he said.

Sutherland said it’s one thing having a fire in the basement, having a fire on the tenth floor will take out the top of the building, if not more.

The offices of the High Court’s judges are also situated above the tenth floor, meaning that any fire that began there would have potentially catastrophic consequences for any judge trapped in his or her office if and when a blaze broke out there.

What’s even more concerning, Sutherland explains, is that only judges’ secretaries currently have the access cards needed to open the fire doors on their floors. That means, should a judge be in his or her office without a secretary during a fire, it would not be possible to exit using a fire door.

“I’ve joked about it. I’m sitting on the twelfth floor. I worked out that I need to abseil about 50 metres down to the ground. So, what do I do? Should I take lessons? Buy myself a rope?” Sutherland asks.

Beneath the grim joking, however, it is clear he is very, very worried.

But Sutherland’s decision to go public about his fire safety concerns and to allow News24 to take pictures of the crammed tenth floor archive has not been well received by Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo.

"I’m monitoring the situation and whilst there’s a delay in getting things right, I take exception to the fact that the Deputy Judge President invited you and gave the interview he did. He was totally out of line and had not consulted me as head of the court about this," he said.

Mlambo also said that he noted News24 was allowed to take pictures of files stored in public areas.

"Our file storage challenges are well known and I fail to understand why this was exposed to you as a journalist. Should you be inclined to publish your interview with the DJP, I request that you include this response from me."

While Mlambo’s displeasure at Sutherland’s decision to go public about the Johannesburg High Court fire risks is apparent, questions posed by News24 to the Department of Public Works – which owns the High Court building and is largely responsible for its maintenance – appear to have prompted some degree of action.

Public Works Minister Sihle Zikalala’s spokespeople Lennox Mabaso and Thami Mchunu said the minister had “expressed outrage at the slow pace of doing preventative maintenance in government facilities even though there has been a devolution of some maintenance functions to line departments”. 

“Minister Zikalala’s charge comes amid growing concerns that some government facilities are becoming a health hazard with piles of flammable material and some health and safety non-compliance posing risks to the lives of occupants,” they told News24.

“The minister has directed the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to work with the Department of Justice to respond to the immediate safety compliance challenges at the Johannesburg Court and water and sewer challenges at the Pretoria High Court. 

“The teams will have to respond to the fire safety issues and ensure a safe a habitable state in both facilities.  Those employed to do this work must be held accountable and need to do their work and on time and within resources allocated,” they added.

Mabaso and Mchunu also confirmed that the High Court building’s tenth floor “is a huge risk factor because of the number of documents stored there” – a fact that they said had been “brought to the justice department’s attention”. 

“The client department (justice) has been advised to install proper filing cabinets and do proper housekeeping.  The gas suppression system will be installed by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) contractor is currently on site”, they said.

They promised that:

• A number of emergency doors were found to be not up to standard and will be replaced or repaired. 
• The Office of the Chief Justice is currently busy replacing all door locks within the entire court. 
• A broken basement fire panel will be attended to by DPWI.
• Eight gas detection/suppression cylinders are being refilled as they are empty.

The doors that lead to the stairs at the judges’ chambers on each floor have access control installed and will be removed and replaced with the push bars to accommodate life safety, so fire fighters can gain access easily.

The Apollo automatic door release power supply boxes will be fitted with batteries (as they do not all have), to prevent doors closing when the electricity is down.

A complete system check was conducted and all faults were rectified on the panel systems and gas suppression as well as the call points at each exit and were found to be operational except for problems mentioned above.

They said that, following the department’s receipt of the City of Johannesburg fire inspection report, the department had, among other things:

• Completed a revamp of the building’s fire and gas suppression systems.
• Attended to, but not completed, work on fire doors and escape doors.
• Installed new fire panels.
• Tested all the emergency phones.
• Serviced and tested signage and door alarms.

Mabaso and Mchunu added, however, that the department of justice was responsible for repairing the High Court’s broken fire door hinges and needed to advise the DPWI on certain of the gates that had been installed in the building.

During a briefing of Parliament's Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola sought to paint a positive picture of the state of the country’s courts.

"Maintenance of infrastructure improve access to justice services, during the year under review, a total of 69 courts were refurbished and upgraded through minor capital works.

"In addition, a total of 70 courts were upgraded in line with the minimum standards to provide reasonable accommodations and disability-centric support services,” he told MPs.

DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach – herself a former prosecutor – was having none of it, however.

“We have an infrastructure problem in South Africa, the courts are falling apart. There are very few courts that are not falling apart. The Potchefstroom Magistrate's Court has been without a roof for a year now. Nothing has been done – it’s a lot like Parliament – nothing has been done to repair it. It’s absolutely mindboggling. Courts don’t have lifts. Courts don’t have generators. Courts don’t have air conditioning. Courts don’t have windows,” she said.

“The Supreme Court of Appeal, when we went there, is in such a shocking state of disrepair, and yet the minister does nothing. And I don’t expect him to pick up a bag of cement and do it himself, but good heavens can he not speak to the Department of Public Works and get something done for once?”

"So, the beautiful little moonshine and roses picture that the minister paints is quite frankly, and forgive the terminology, nothing but putting lipstick on a pig," she said.

Responding to Breytenbach, Lamola said: “Indeed, it’s true. It’s a challenge.”

He said there had been ongoing meetings between himself, the minister of public works and the Chief Justice.

“It is not true that we are doing nothing. I can say that it is a blue lie. In fact, it is propaganda… And there have been interventions coming out of these meetings… I believe that those meetings are beginning to bear fruit. But obviously, challenges are still there.”