Cyril Ramaphosa cancels state address to visit site of Joburg fire

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday cancelled his scheduled address to the nation to visit the Joburg CBD where 74 people died after the building they lived in was ravaged by fire. 

About 50 people were injured in the blaze.

Ramaphosa’s office said: “In view of the fire disaster in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled his address to the nation.

“The president will this afternoon conduct a site visit to Marshalltown to receive a briefing on the emergency and recovery operations and on the support the government is providing to the affected families.”

The cancelled address was meant to be on the outcomes of the Brics summit and the panel investigation into the docking of the Lady R at Simon’s Town naval base.

The summit, at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg last week, was attended by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended virtually. 

Ramaphosa set up an inquiry to investigate whether arms were loaded onto the Russian ship Lady R in Simon’s Town in December. The probe came after US ambassador Reuben Brigety accused SA of arming Russia.