Usindiso Ministries was once a homely space offering shelter, education and social services to abused women and their children.
Before it caught flames early on Thursday morning, it had become a den of criminals with drug abuse and prostitution not in short supply.
This is according to Afikile Madiya, a girl who lived in the shelter with her mother.
Madiya spoke to Sunday World on Thursday as the building she once regarded as her home was in flames killing 73 people including 24 women and 13 children.
By Friday afternoon, the death toll had risen to 76.
She said she lived in the building in the inner city of Johannesburg for six years. When she moved out, it had become unsafe for women who lived there.
“When my mother and I moved into this building it was clean, maintained, and it served its real purpose of helping women who were homeless and abused.
“Things took a turn when the management and security left unannounced. Greedy men got this information and hijacked the building,” she said.
“They turned it into something else, something I could not identify with. At some point, we had to jump over a dead body that was left in the corridor. I decided then that it was time to leave.”
Madiya said the men started off by demanding that they pay rent before they took in hundreds of foreigners.
“It was not safe anymore because it was overcrowded. It was not strange to see prostitutes in the building working or people taking drugs.
“These men who hijacked the building managed to force foreign nationals to pay because they were desperate and did not have documents to be in the country.”
She said the deadly fire was long overdue because the municipality had disconnected the electricity, resulting in people who stayed in the building to connect electricity illegally.
“At some point, we would ask ourselves how we would escape if fire started, because the exit points were no longer clear.
“It had become normal that about 10 to 11 people occupy one room and pay for it.”
Madiya said she is saddened that the fire swallowed many souls.
“The authorities knew that the building had been hijacked but they did nothing about it, otherwise, how were they going to switch the electricity off if they did not know that there were issues here?
“I know some of the people who died, I am hurting because they died from something we had all complained about for years.
“I hope whoever is responsible for this building takes accountability.”
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