A Shocking Confession Upends the Case of a Fatal Fire in South Africa – The New York Times

Advertisement
Supported by
Activists fear that one man’s sudden admission that he lit a crowded building ablaze to cover up a murder will let officials off the hook for failing to correct unsafe conditions there.
By Lynsey Chutel and John Eligon
Reporting from Johannesburg
It was time, the witness said, to tell the whole truth about the awful things he had done.
Moments before testifying this week at an inquiry into one of South Africa’s deadliest residential fires, he pulled an investigator aside and said he needed to change his story. He was the one, he said, who had started the Aug. 31 blaze that engulfed a five-story building in downtown Johannesburg.
Sobbing as he spoke, Sithembiso Mdlalose, 30, told a room full of stunned listeners that he had strangled a man on the ground floor of the overcrowded, derelict dwelling and set the body alight.
After that confession at the inquiry, Mr. Mdlalose was arrested by the police, who are running a parallel criminal investigation into the fire, and charged with 76 counts of murder. But as he made his first criminal court appearance on Thursday, there remained plenty of confusion and mystery around this shocking twist in a tragedy that has attracted international attention to the awful living conditions of thousands of people in buildings across one of Africa’s wealthiest cities.
While Mr. Mdlalose’s confession at the inquiry is inadmissible, prosecutors said, his confession will bolster the criminal investigation.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement

source

About The Author

admin

See author's posts