Fatal gas leakage incident a ‘tragedy’ – Gauteng Premier

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has passed his condolences to the families of those affected by a gas cylinder leak which killed at least 17 people in Boksburg on Wednesday evening.

A further 11 people have been hospitalised with some of them in a critical condition.

The incident comes just six months after a gas tanker exploded – killing at least 40 people in the same area.

Addressing the media at the site of the incident, Lesufi said support will be given to families of those affected and the surrounding community where the incident took place.

“We want as national government, provincial government and local government to extend our sincere condolences to all the families that have been affected. It’s a tragic event.

“We have learnt from the previous incident and our systems…this time, were on par and they responded the way we advised them and the lessons we learnt from the previous explosion. We are strongly monitoring the situation and we keep our eye on it. We have asked our experts to remain here,” he said.

It is believed that the gas cylinder was cut by illegal miners in the area – causing the leakage.

Lesufi condemned the alleged criminality and said a specialised unit needs to be formed in the SA Police Service to combat the scourge.

“We are under siege. We are using outdated law enforcement mechanisms in a new era that needs new forms of law enforcement. We have to overhaul our law enforcement response.

“This thing of illegal mining is completely out of control. I am of the view that we need a specialised way of training our law enforcement. They try…[but] the fire power of the illegal miners and the resources that [police] have are not…at the level that they confront these things.

“I am calling for a completely new strategy in confronting this thing. A strategy that is well resourced and the capability of our law enforcement agencies that are at a higher level and they need to respond as if we are in a war zone,” he said.

The premier said police are doing what they can to combat illegal mining but, he said, the service needs to be further capacitated.

“The police are doing their best…[however] we are exposing them because they are confronted with a situation that is well resourced, well connected and that has the firepower to create problems for all of us. We just have to capacitate the police with the necessary firepower to respond.

“We need firepower… from technology and from the air. If people get out of those illegal mines and come out, we need to be able to pick them up and we need to know where these activities are taking place. We can’t do that with the naked eye or the resources that we have,” he said.

The Premier is expected to meet with community leaders in the area.