Egoli Gas says it is working closely with the executive team of the City of Johannesburg to make the city safe following the exposure of their gas lines on Lillian Ngoyi Street (formerly Bree Street) in July and possible infrastructure damage due to the explosion. This follows another explosion that occurred in Braamfontein late on Tuesday afternoon which left five people injured.

The company confirmed that the explosion that caused the fire on the corners of Bertha and De Korte streets in Braamfontein was from one of their gas lines. "The gas pipeline was immediately isolated, and the fire was contained within 15 minutes," Egoli Gas said in a statement. The incident saw the company truck and part of the building next to where their staff were working catching fire. Joburg City Manager Floyd Brink said Egoli Gas was doing routine maintenance work when the explosion occurred. "This involves exposing sections of pipeline and sleeving to ensure the integrity of the network. In this case, this was a 355mm gas pipe from Egoli Gas where they are doing some form of a resealing. It's like an upgrade, but also something that was a preventive measure on their side," Brink said.

Egoli Gas said in conjunction with the City of Johannesburg, it will put extra measures in place to ensure that an incident like this does not occur again. "A root cause analysis will be concluded, and agreement has been reached with the executive team of Johannesburg that JMPD and EMS will be informed of future work to assist with the management of traffic and public movement in areas where work is planned," the statement said. Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services said five people were treated on the scene and taken to different medical facilities for further treatment. Gwamanda warned residents to stay clear of disaster areas for their own safety.

"We must, however, also decry a growing tendency where people converge around a scene of disaster, taking pictures and videos, as opposed to evacuating and moving away from such scenes. The Boksburg explosion must be a lesson that scenes of disaster must be cleared immediately by all,' said Gwamanda.