The survivors now live in fear of weapons two years onwards

Red by soot, the gutted and abandoned remains of the scandalous South Africa building in Central Johannesburg are an unwavering memorial of the 76 people who died here in a devastating fire two years ago.

At one time, the office block building from the 50s in the Marshalestown area was abandoned and then taken over by several hundred people, desperately needed a home.

One of them was Vusi Tshabalala, who shakes his head with distrust while remembering how he survived the flame on that late August night.

“The fire seemed to be coming out of nowhere,” the 45-year-old told the BBC with a melancholy voice, blurred by years of smoking cigarettes.

Mr. Tshabalala fell asleep on the third floor of the five-story building, where he shared a place with his then girlfriend and brother.

Awakened by the flames, they were able to escape by hiding in wet blankets and running into the dark to the exit from the back.

“As we were running, others wounded because when they fell, they could not return. People ran over them. Thank God we went out without any injury.”

The tragedy shocked the nation and emphasized the deep inequalities of housing in the most rich city in Africa – inequalities that the authorities promised to cope.

Visiting only hours after the explosion, President Cyril Ramafosa called him “Awakening to start dealing with the home situation in the inner city.”

“We need to find effective ways to deal with the issue of housing,” he said.

But two years on, Tshabalala and many others have not yet found a permanent home.

He was originally moved to Rosenville, 5 km (three miles) south of Marshalun, but says he left because he can’t find a job there.

He then tried the Denver industrial neighborhood, 6 km east of the USindiso building, where other survivors were placed – but he says frequent shootings force him to leave.

He currently lives in the shadow of his former home, where other ex -residents of the USindiso building have put huts in an informal settlement known as Emaxhoseni.

Made of corrugated iron and wood, the structures are tightly packed together – and a few meters away, some people have even placed improvised tents against the wall of the usindiso building.

The street is dirty and the residents tell us that drainage is bad. During the summer rains, the area is flooded and filled with waste.

But for the ds tshabalala, which is currently working on a nearby construction site, the living here is worth it: “I came back because at least here we get a job. The other places we were busy cannot find a job.”

He accuses the authorities of not doing enough to support the survivors of the fire: “No one wants to know where the people of this tragedy live.”

Some of the survivors remain in a camp created for them in Denver – although that does not mean they are happy.

“This place is not safe,” 29-year-old Tobeka Beael tells the BBC.

Children play between temporary corrugated iron shelters, where women also do laundry when we visit. There are only a few dozen portable toilets and 12 cranes for approximately 800 people living here.

D -Ja Beael, who works as a police volunteer, explains how she was shot dead this year while she was asleep in her home.

“I heard the shots. Then I was hit by a bullet. I don’t know who shot me, but some boys were fighting outside,” she says, fighting to hold back tears.

The bullet, which came through the wall and hit it, is still housed in the hip joint. Doctors told her that the attempt to eliminate it would cause more damage.

She covered the holes of the bullets left in the wall with a masking tape: “Sometimes when I see the bullets holes, I cry. I cry because I didn’t expect it to happen to my life. I cried a lot.”

D -Ja Beael is desperate to leave the camp, but she cannot afford a private rent, since her volunteer role pays her very little.

She wants the authorities to move her because she was told that the camp was only a temporary solution, but for two years she had no idea if and when she would leave.

“If the government moved us after six months, as they promised us, I might not blame them. But I blame them because it took two years.

“Now, when it’s cold, I can’t go to work because my wound hurts. I have to buy painkillers every day. My legs hurt, I can’t stand or go for a long time.”

Due to the problems of safety, she sent her three-year-old daughter, who was with her at night of fire, to live with her grandmother in the province of Quazulu-Nal.

“I am very scared. We have been promised to put gates at the camp entrance, but there are no gates. Anyone can enter here.”

Camp residents say three people were killed after arriving in Denver: one stabbed, another beaten to death and a third shot.

The BBC contacted the mayor’s office to ask why the survivors of the fire had not been moved for two years but did not receive an answer to this question.

Nomzamo Zondo, a lawyer and executive director of the South Africa Institute of Social Economic Rights (Seri), an organization for human rights based in Johannesburg, says it was a struggle to bring people out of the so-called temporary accommodation in emergencies.

She explains that according to national housing policy, the state must find a constant accommodation for those who are expelled or victims of a disaster, unless they are able to accommodate themselves.

“In general, this is not happening. Without any accessible accommodation in which people can move and without any plan the state will provide this, it is unlikely that people will leave their temporary home,” she told the BBC.

There seems to be many abandoned buildings in the center of Johannesburg that could provide permanent homes, but the developers interested in their renovation, then charge a rent that is out of the reach of many.

“The moment you import the private market, there is no room for the poor,” says the housing lawyer.

Some hope of improvement is yet to come.

With South Africa, hosting the G8 leader meeting in November, Ramafosa ordered the neighborhoods of Johannesburg in the city to be cleaned before the collection.

It was in March – and a focus had to be the collapsing buildings in the city.

In the document of an urban body, Mashalltown was identified as one of the areas that would benefit from the investment to provide “cleaner streets, more favorable buildings and renewed economic confidence”.

Johannesburg will be “a place where Africa’s stability, innovation and potential will be fully displayed for the world.”

But it seems that a little has happened so far, and Da Zndo says that lasting change will take time.

“The D -20 is only two months old. At that time it is unlikely to do a lot, but our hope is that the Presidency’s commitment to improve the inner city will outlive the G20 and ensure that there is a decent housing for the poor and that we have no other usindiso,” she says.

Asked why the area was not regenerated, as promised, the mayor service told the BBC that the project would continue after the G -20 meeting.

Meanwhile, many former residents of the USindiso building remain in the limbs.

“I don’t see this to change,” sighs tshabalala.

“If people still live,” he says, pointing to the homeless men in tents behind him, “I don’t see any change. I don’t know what’s happening to our government.”