Just after midnight, on the morning of Tuesday, 21 December, a fire broke out at the University of South Africa (Unisa) Muckleneuk Campus in Pretoria. It would appear that the fire was at the university's Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Building.
In a statement released by the University, the Principal and Vice Chancellor of Unisa, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, says:
At about 01:00 this morning, 21st December 2022, I was notified that Block B building of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at our Muckleneuk Campus caught fire.
Firefighters from the City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department saw dense smoke at the building as they were approaching the scene. According to a statement released by the department, they then had to "force entry of three wooden doors and two steel roller doors to gain access into the building to fight the fire".
After going through books, furniture, multiple doors and stacks of files, the firefighting team then reached the fire. What they saw was stacks of books and files destroyed by the fire.
Most of the second floor suffered extensive smoke and water damage, and part of the third floor also suffered some smoke damage.
The fire was then contained with no injuries being reported. Due to the circumstances, LenkaBula made the decision to temporarily close the affected building.
Unisa is now investigating how the fire began and the extent of damage it has caused with them saying, " In line with established protocols, the university will continue working with the City of Tshwane Fire Department and SAPS on these investigations".
Two weeks ago, a fire broke out in the same building and was extinguished by the staff, and the emergency services were never notified, said the statement from the Department.
