The South African police have arrested a man who confessed to having caused a fire that killed 77 people in a derelict building in downtown Johannesburg last year after a drug dispute led him to strangle a man and set the body alight, a police spokeswoman and a victims’ advocate said on Wednesday.
The man, a 29-year-old whose name has not been released, was arrested on Tuesday on 77 counts of murder and 120 counts of attempted murder, said Col. Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, a spokeswoman for the police in Gauteng Province, which includes Johannesburg.
Colonel Nevhuhulwi initially gave the figure as 76 counts, but then clarified that it was 77.
The man made his confession during a hearing of a special commission investigating the fire, which tore through an overcrowded four-story building in the early hours of Aug. 31.
The commission was later told that the exact death toll was unclear because of how badly some of the bodies were burned.
Persons:
Dimakatso, Nevhuhulwi, incriminated, ”, Andy Chinnah, Norton Rose Fulbright
Organizations:
South, Norton Rose
Locations:
Johannesburg, Gauteng Province