. >> david mckenzie is on the scene there, and david, there are awful details coming out of this, anduilding and how the recovery efforts are going? >> well, rahel, the recovery efforts are continuing, and the building is too dangerous to go into, and 74 people were killed in the awful inferno, and terribly 12 of those are children there. are many bodies that are burnt beyond recognition, and we left the scene where we are now here at the bureau, and this city, and this country is in shock. the president is expected to be at the scene shortly to give his condolences, and many are asking the questions of how indeed this could happen. we spoke to multiple witnesses and survivors who said that in the early hours of this morning, the fire spread quickly and many people desperately to get out, and many of them tying the blankets to the windows and crawling out of the windows and repelling to the bottom. this is a building hijacked by gangsters. it is something that happens to johannesburg, and not infrequently, and in the latest revelation, it was owned by the city of johannesburg, but it

cnn's david mckenzie joins from us johannesburg. ory of disputed elections. but as mnangagwa has said, he wants peace here. where will things go from here. >> reporter: well, the next thing that happens in this critically important election, omar, is that the opposition is, they say, reveal data, they say, that shows where there's a disconnect between how people voted and how the electoral commission said the election went. emmerson mnangagwa as you mentioned said this was a peaceful election, transparent and happened in broad daylight. election observers from the southern african community and european union and also the u.s. government have posed questions about the leadup to this election, in terms of intimidation. there's also huge technical issues with the voting that was much delayed. the opposition said they didn't even get an up-to-date voters roll which is critical to understanding the efficacy of i election in that country. here's the leader of the opposition. >> and i think it is clear that we are rejecting the election as

. >> david mckenzie joins us live.een raised by observers, a lot of concerns about potential rigging, a climate of fear and so on. what happens now? >> reporter: well, what happens now, bianca, and you described very much the complaints from both monitors, the opposition, civil society groups and election observers from outside of zimbabwe, what happens now, the opposition say they're going to dispute the results. they say in the coming hours they'll have their own data from polling stations and from districts where they had monitors and others tabulating what they say is the election and they say don't add up with the official results, and on saturday putting emerson as the winner of the election and 52% of the vote. here's the leader of that. >> it is clear that we are rejecting the election as a sham, the result. the process itself is aligned with what the observers say. we reject this out and flawed process very disputed figures. >> reporter: and the observers he's talk about is of course the regional bloc of south

cnn david mckenzie joins us live from johannesburg. david, what's the latest on this story? is that the opposition crying foul, as you described. it's a critically important election in zimbabwe where people in recent months and historically are dealing with rampant inflation and huge economic losses based on under employment and unemployment. now, you mentioned the u.n. secretary general. has obliquely criticized the election. you had more forceful statement from both the european union and the provisional assessment and sadek, the southern african community of nations. also fell short of the requirement of the zimbabwe constitution. that's significant because historical, it's not always been that unified in criticizing past issues at the polls in zombie. opposition leaders i spoke to ahead of the polls all of them feared there could be some rigging or problems in the vote. they need to now provide of the proof of that. what we can expect from the occupation party and nelson in the coming hours, they will be releasing details of their data they say contradicts the official

cnn's senior international correspondent david mckenzie is near the scene of the tragedy. building. >> reporter: brianna, it is awful, and at least a dozen children are amongst those dead, burned in that inferno that started in the early hours of the morning. many people struggled to get out. at least one witness told us there were areas of the building that were locked off, preventing people from getting out. i spoke to one man who managed to survive, just barely. take a listen. >> people, they make noise. fire, fire, fire. i wake up. i see the fire. when i enter, i come, to my room. then, i broke the window. the smoke was coming for me. yeah. after that, i don't know anything from now. >> he blacked out and then came to. three of his family members are still missing. like many in that building, hundreds of families, at least, here is a migrant from another part of the continent. this building, extraordinary as it sounds, brianna, was highjacked, taken over by gangsters, owned by the city of johannesburg, but it was taken over and then rented out to poor migrants who coul

kristie lu stout is in hong kong, but let's begin with david mckenzie who is in johannesburg. d, let's focus on the question of expansion. certain members, particularly china, have made it clear how they envision these countries working together to break that western hegemony. what countries might be considering joining this bloc and what would be the stipulations of them doing so in. >> reporter: still trying to figure that out. what we do know is that multiple countries including saudi arabia, united arab emirates, drc and others have formally applied to join the brics grouping. earlier today you've had xi jinping and narendra modi and the red carpets coming to the main day of the brics summit. this is a high stakes summit. an odd collection of countries with the biggest automatic to being autocracy and china and brazil. and they have different views on what brics should be. china is very much focused on trying to expand brics i think to expressly take on groups like the g7 and to increase its own power on the world stage economically and politically. it gets more complicated

. >>> for more on prigozhin's legacy in africa, i want to turn to david mckenzie in johannesburg.ake us through wagner's role in some african countries. >> long before wagner became a worldwide name because of its involved in the ukraine war, the military group was working across the african continent and the middle east. if you look at the map, these are the areas in the past where wagner has been operating. now, the opterations have been direct military involvement, such as mozambique and in central african republic and in the west african country of mali. but they also have been involved critically in so-called psy-ops. in trying to persuade citizens and leaders to shift their allegiance away from the west, towards russia. this is something that cnn has reported over the years. it's notable that the most recent video of prigozhin alive appeared to be from the african continent, where he was ready to expand operations there. wagner has been making a play to get involved in niger, the country that had a coup. the group is roundly condemned for human rights abuses in the operation

let's go to david mckenzie on the scene in johannesberg. how are recovery efforts going?ter: rahel, the recovery efforts are going. it is a very tragic moment in south africa. in the early hours of the morning if you look at the video of a fire ripped through the building that was jam packed with mostly migrants from other parts of africa. the fire developed very, very fast. there have been firemen on the scene trying to save people in the early hours and then recover bodies. bodies on the streets in bags trying to identify them. many are still missing. i spoke to a survivor who did everything he could to get out. >> they make noise, fire, fire, fire. i'm wake up. i see the fire. after that, i come back to my room. then i broke the window. when i broke the window, the smoke was coming for me, yeah. after that, i just fall down. then from there, i don't know anything until now. >> reporter: he blacked out, came to several hours later with his friends, still missing three family members, rahel. if you look at the situation, it is quite bizarre. this building was hijacked, m

david mckenzie is live on the ground in johannesburg for a us. what are you seeing there right now? is a terrible tragedy. this is a five-storey building that was crammed with people, many of them living tooth by jowl. the fire swept through the building very quickly. firefighters did what they can to try to come in and get people out. i spoke to a man who survived, he said he had to smash his head through the window eventually to try to sdap. st escape. he has family members that are missing. more than 70 dead. and i want to show you some of the emergency workers are there, many of them exhausted. you might not see it, but people who tried to escape by any means tied blankets and comforters anltd then tried to claim down and get out. there have been bodies many of them burned beyond recognition and some of them children that have been led out on the street. this is also part of a bigger story. as bizarre as it sounds, there are many buildings in downtown johannesburg that have been hijacked by criminal gangs. they take over from the landlords, and then bring in people and squash th

david mckenzie is live for us in johannesburg with more. how is the summit going and what more can we expect today? >> reporter: danny, good morning. you have these world leaders assembly just a short time ago, most critical day of the brics summit. and of course not in attendance amongst those leaders is russian president vladimir putin. he has already shown his presence virtually because if he were to set foot in this country, he could be arrest arrested for those alleged war crimes that have happened in ukraine. but i think that this is a critically important meeting because china in particular is looking to expand this grouping of countries to increase their economic and political cloud on the world stage. though they haven't said it directly, it certainly is the feeling from china and russia particularly that they want to counteract the g7 group of wealthy nations and also try to limit the influence of the world bank and imf, those are critically important groups that lend money to countries all over the world. we've seen some division

. >> let's go straight to david mckenzie. >> reporter: a terrible scene here. if we look at what is happening, there are police, firefighters. the building is just over my right shoulder. and in the early hours this morning maybe around 2w12:30 or 1:00, witnesses say the fire spread rapidly. and people were jumping out to try to escape the inferno. local administrators are saying that there were many children amongst those burnt in the fire. more than 60 people now dead and forensic teams were passing by our position getting dressed in their scrubs to try to start the very difficult process of identifying some of these bodies. as bizarre as it sounds, what they believe is that this building was hijacked. and that is unfortunately something that happens all over downtown johannesburg, an area where a landlord maybe vacated and criminal gangs or others dealt with the situation by bringing in people, cramming them into existing apartments, multiple people per apartment. and that is why as you describe, this is described as informal settlement, not an apartment bui

. >> and david mckenzie is in johannesburg. take us through the highlights of that speech. >> reporter: i think this is a very significant moment. we had anticipated some potential moves towards expansion, but this is a rapid and expansive expansion in very short order that many didn't anticipate. and it speaks to a very significant development. here is the president of south africa making the announcement. >> we have decided to invite the argentine republic, republic of egypt, federal democratic republic of ethiopia, the islamic republic of iran, the kingdom of saudi arabia, and the united arab emirates to become full members of brics. the membership will take effect from the first of january 2024. >> reporter: this is a very rapid expansion. and it can be seen, max, as a significant win for china in particular. of all the nations of brics, they were pushing the hardest behind the scenes to expand brics and their implements. they may on the surface not have much in common, but something for everyone i think. brazilians and pre

. >> steven jiang is focusing on what china is hoping to achieve, but first an overview from david mckenzie in johannesburg. how far is this meeting about trying to form a world of multipolarity and break the western domination and hegemony? >> reporter: i think broadly that is a big theme of this, whether that is stated succinctly or not will be another matter. i think the fact that president putin is not here but will be attending virtually speaks both to his isolation and to russia's continued involvement in the world ironically because they have a virtual seat at the table with brazil, india, china and south africa. bric is an order collection of countries already. andutocracy and democracy in th same grouping. but the attitudes towards western powers, differing in nature between these countries, is something that there will be a theme running through this conference. i think a major topic will be whether they are going to expand bric. certainly china wants that, possibly india, south africa appears to have entered had camp as well. but brazil i think will be harder to convince. saudi a

david mckenzie is live with more on this. people killed. >> reporter: it's absolutely tragic. if you look behind me, this build ing is gutted in the earl hours of the morning, a fire broke out and ripped through the area. people described how they were desperate to try to get out breaking through windows, some tying comforters and blankets out of the wib does to try to get occupy. two people told me there were gates that were locked. i spoke to one man who survived and ended up unconscious. he doesn't know where his family members are because of the chaos that ensued as this unfolded. now you say this is aa hijacked building. that is correct. this building was taken over by gangsters. then people without the means to afford rent were squished in together into rooms, 15 at a time. that means that when this fire broke out, it was total chaos. there are bodies strewn on the street, many of them burned beyond recognition. behind my shoulder, you can see the forensic teams that are suiting up. they have been here for several hours

david: on that cheery note, please join me in thanking mike, travis, and mckenzie. [applause] this video will be on our website so you can watch it over and over again. i am sure mike would be happy to talk with anybody about the specifics in his paper, which is also on the website. if i could ask you on your way out to take the coffee cups in your feet and put them in the receptacle, our staff would appreciate it. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including buckeye broadband. ♪ >> buckeye broadband support c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> started monday, september8, watching c-span's new series, books that shaped america, which will feature 10 books that have pr thought, one awards, led to significant societal cha

david: on that cheery note, please join me in thanking mike, travis, and mckenzie. [applause] this video will be on our website so you can watch it over and over again. i am sure mike would be happy to talk with anybody about the specifics in his paper, which is also on the website. if i could ask you on your way out to take the coffee cups in your feet and put them in the receptacle, our staff would appreciate it. thank you.