by Thinus Ferreira
The latest fire at the South African public broadcaster broke out on Thursday afternoon just before 13:00 at its radio complex in Auckland Park, prompting the evacuation of the building, after the last fire in the same building five years ago in June 2019.
The fire comes a day after the SABC's finance boss warned that the broadcaster's dilapidated buildings and studios are in urgent need of long-overdue infrastructure investment
It took a fire rescue services team of 12 people an hour to extinguish the blaze after a fire alarm went off at 12:40 causing an evacuation of the 33-storey building.
According to Robert Mulaudzi, Johannesburg emergency services (EMS) spokesperson, the latest SABC fire started in the lift pit area on the ground floor of the building, close to where a lot of paper were being stored.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is not yet known, although SABC staffers said it smelled like "an electrical fire".
According to Mulaidzi the SABC must urgently improve its management and administration.
The fire at the SABC comes just a day after Yolande van Biljon, SABC chief financial officer, told parliament that the South African public broadcaster's buildings and studio facilities at Auckland Park are in a dilapidated state and that millions of rand are needed to renovate the buildings and to bring the studios back up to standard again.
Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, in a statement, said that "The SABC can confirm a fire incident at its headquarters in radio campus in Auckland Park" and that "staff members have been evacuated from the affected building and an investigation into what caused the fire is also underway."
In a second statement on Thursday at 17:36 she said that the building has "been declared safe by EMS" and that "electricity supply has also been restored".
