Blackened by soot, the gutted and derelict remains of South Africa's infamous Usindiso building in central Johannesburg are an unintentional memorial to the 76 people who died here in a devastating fire two years ago. At one time an office block, the 1950s building in the Marshalltown area was abandoned and then taken over by several hundred people desperately needing a home.
One of those was Vusi Tshabalala, who shakes his head in disbelief as he recalls how he survived the blaze on that late August night.
The fire seemed to come out of nowhere, the 45-year-old tells the BBC in a melancholic voice, raspy from years of smoking cigarettes.
Mr Tshabalala was asleep on the third floor of the five-storey building, where he was sharing a place with his then-girlfriend and brother...
But two years on, Mr Tshabalala and many others have still not found a permanent home...
I blame them because it's been two years. If the government had relocated us after six months like they promised us, maybe I wouldn't blame them... but no one wants to know where the people from this tragedy are living, he adds.
This is echoed by 29-year-old Thobeka Biyela, who shares her haunting experience of being shot in her home...
Efforts to find permanent housing for the survivors have stalled, as many live under precarious and unsafe conditions amidst ongoing violence, highlighting a persistent issue of housing inequality in one of Africa's wealthiest cities.
