A few years ago, the charity ran out of money and quietly stopped operating, so the building began filling up with drug users and desperately poor migrants, residents said. Spokespeople for the City of Johannesburg and police did not respond to requests for comment about the residents' accounts. But Johannesburg city manager Floyd Brink said there was a plan to get hijacked buildings back under control. But human rights groups took them to court, said Annie Michaels, an activist from the Johannesburg Migrants Advisory Panel, which has been supporting migrants in the building. Shocked at the state of the building, Jack urged her brother Dube to move, but he never did.

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Persons: Sihle Dube, didn't, Dube, Bertha Gxowa, Angela Rivers, Kabelo Gwamanda, Floyd Brink, Cyril Ramaphosa, Ramaphosa, contemptuously, Thando, Ethel Jack, Jack, I've, Chinte Mustafa, Annie Michaels, Michaels, he'd, Tim Cocks, Alexandra Zavis, Ros Russell Organizations: Association, City, Bertha, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Johannesburg Fire, JOHANNESBURG, Johannesburg, Germiston, Johannesburg's, South, South Africa, Africa, Utrecht, Malawi