President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet sent condolences to the families and friends of those who died in the fire in a building in the Johannesburg city centre.

 
If they need reinforcement from national disaster management centres, such assistance is offered and the president is being updated but the matter for now is in the realm of the local government and the provincial government of Gauteng,” Ntshaveni said.

While the emergency teams warn that it's likely that they will discover more bodies as they continue to scour through the once-abandoned structure in Marshalltown, Ntshaveni alluded that without attempting to pre-empt what could have been the cause of the fire, they will allow investigations by the relevant authorities to take place and to report.

It’s estimated that 200 people were inside the building when the fire began in the early hours of Thursday morning.