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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Mogomotsi Magome and Gerald Imray

A building marked by fire and death shows the decay of South Africa's 'city of gold'

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

One of the few things that survived the fire and smoke that caused at least 76 horrific deaths in a rundown apartment block in Johannesburg is a circular plaque hanging on the brown brick exterior. It has a five-sentence inscription outlining the building's history.

No. 80 Albert Street - the scene of one of South Africa's worst inner-city tragedies - was a central pass office during the apartheid era of racial segregation, a checkpoint for enforcing a despised law that controlled the movement of Black people nearly everywhere in the country.

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