Johannesburg Father Runs Ponte’s 62 Floors to Commemorate Lost Firefighters

Johannesburg father and owner of the travel company MicroAdventures Kennedy Tembo helped start the 62-floor Ponte City Challenge several years ago to help draw people back to the city. Today he used the increasingly popular race to focus attention on another cause, emergency service providers, especially those who died during the Bank of Lisbon fire in Johannesburg a year ago.

“This was also my way of appreciating the wonderful work these special men and women (of the Johannesburg Emergency Management Services) do, putting their own lives in harm’s way in order to save our own!” Tembo said after running up the 900 steps clad in the heavy EMS gear in 14 minutes and 34 seconds.

Tembo said even though he had run the race numerous times already, it was the first time he was doing it in bunker gear, although there was no fire and he was not carrying oxygen bottles.

“This was in memory of our Joburg Emergency Management Services brothers (Simphiwe Moropane, Mduduzi Ndlovu and Khathutshelo Muedi) who lost their lives on that fateful 5th of September 2018 at the Lisbon Bank building, may their souls RIP.”

One of the men died after falling from the 23rd floor of the building. The building, which was owned and used by the Gauteng departments of health, human settlements, and cooperative governance and traditional affairs apparently caught alight on several floors, and it was found to have not been up to code. It has since been emptied and closed up.