He said he ignited the blaze while trying to dispose of the body of a man he had strangled. The shocking and unexpected confession came when the man was testifying at an inquiry into the causes of the fire in August at an apartment building in downtown Johannesburg, which was one of South Africa’s worst disasters. The man, whose identity was not disclosed, had said at the inquiry that he had killed another man on the night of the fire by beating him and strangling him, according to South African media reports of the testimony. He said he then poured gasoline on the man’s body and set it alight with a match, according to the reports. The fire drew the world’s attention to downtown Johannesburg’s long-running problem with “hijacked buildings,” structures that have become rundown and taken over by squatters and are abandoned by authorities. There are hundreds of them in the old centre of the city, officials say.
SOURCE: CNN