Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has announced a commission of inquiry into last week's deadly fire in the Johannesburg CBD.
At least 77 people lost their lives and 60 were injured when a massive blaze gutted a five-storey building in Marshalltown last week.
Over 400 people - the most vulnerable of the residents of the City of Gold - had lived in a condemned building for many years, risking their lives in one of the most dangerous parts of the city.
To protect themselves from unwelcome intruders, they barricaded themselves with steel rods on each floor.
It was these barricades that made it impossible to escape a deadly blaze that quickly moved from one floor to the next.
Lesufi has announced that retired Justice Sisi Khampepe will chair the commission.
The scope of work and the terms of reference were still being drafted and will be gazetted soon.
"In Johannesburg, the issue of stolen buildings is becoming a crisis, necessitating drastic action. A thorough intervention is required to ensure that disasters like the Marshalltown fire, one of the deadliest in recent memory, never happen again.
"We urge all affected communities and organisations to make submissions and work with the commission to get to the bottom of this intractable problem of hijacked buildings," the premier said on Monday.
Former member of the Gauteng Legislature Makashule Gana, who now represents Rise Mzansi, said the commission of inquiry was a publicity stunt.
"We are not in support of this course of action as it is a delaying tactic to deal with the scourge of hijacked buildings by slumlords and hyenas in Johannesburg," he said.
ActionSA said the City of Johannesburg which owns the building and failed to secure it as a condemned building should take responsibility for the deaths and accommodation of over 300 people who now find themselves homeless.
Meanwhile, Gauteng Health said it had concluded autopsies on the 77 bodies and appealed to relatives to claim the bodies to prepare them for burial. Various embassies were working with the officials to identify some of the foreign nationals who lost their lives in the fire.
