Plan B kicks in at gutted court

It made a sad picture as court personnel and the public stood outside the gutted Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in the grey rain on Thursday morning, while red fire engines attended to smouldering embers that had lit up again.

The crowd looked forlorn, some crying when they saw the marble outer face of the old building, masking the charred inside.

Some prosecutors arrived just after 6am, saying they wanted to see what they could sort out before the public arrived.

A contingency plan was set up the night before, but it still had to be implemented.

The fire, that started in a courtroom, spread through the ceiling of the building on Wednesday, destroying everything.

Firefighters salvaged the lower levels, after the roof and upper level were razed.

On Thursday they twice had to attend to flare ups.

Tshwane emergency spokesman Johann Pieterse said it was normal, as heat built up in the debris. This could continue for a day or two.

“To minimise flare ups, the firemen walked through the rubble to look for hot spots and extinguished them. The building is unsafe.

“The whole roof collapsed, electrical wires burnt and there is water everywhere. The place was gutted throughout,” Pieterse said.

In the meantime, court personnel were escorted by the police and security into the new building on the Schoeman Street side. Guided by torches, they searched for charge sheets of cases for the day in the office of the clerk of the court.

They could not say how many dockets and documents had been lost yet, but a lot of their information was on computer.

Outside the building were notes directing the public to the Pretoria Central Police station’s third floor.

Family Violence, Maintenance and Children’s Court cases were referred to the Rondalia building in Visagie Street, with telephone numbers of the magistrates involved printed on the notice.

At the police station notices directed first appearances to the Hatfield and Atteridgeville Courts.

Mishack Magakwe, Gauteng provincial communications manager in the Department of Labour, said they had gone to the building to start investigating what had caused the blaze. “But they could not inspect the scene as there were still parts of the building burning. It wasn’t safe,” he said.

Justice Department spokesman Tlali Tlali noted that this was one of the main magistrate’s courts in the country, because it was in the capital. “It is expected to be very busy.

“The court handles on average 500 criminal cases and 250 civil matters a day. We had to respond to the situation in a manner that would minimise the impact of the disruption of the administration of justice,” he said.

Management was on site, monitoring the situation and implementing contingency measures.

“The arrangements are tem-porary as it was intended to attend to critical and emergency cases. But no challenge is insurmountable when we work together.”

Tlali said once they had received reports on the safety of the public and personnel, it would be decided if they could return to the new section of the court building.

On the police station’s third floor, people crowded corridors and tiny offices. “What a struggle,” someone complained.

Witnesses were told they would be subpoenaed to appear in court again. Prosecutors shouted out to which office cases had been sent.

Outside on the pavement some court personnel said they knew the court building had been a disaster waiting to happen. “How long have electrical wires been hanging from the ceiling? We were never told of an emergency plan, where to meet or what to do,” they said.

Some clerks said they only left the new building 20 minutes after the order was given. They had not heard it and there were no fire alarms.

The Public Servants Association (PSA) also said the court building had been regarded as unsafe for years. “The PSA represents a substantial number of employees based at the office and has persistently been warning that safety issues needed to be addressed.” - Pretoria News