I finally took a tour of Ponte

The building, which had turned into a slum, was revamped before the 2010 World Cup. It was recently put up for auction and is yet to be sold.

- Ash Müller

Enduring: Ponte refuses to die. The building, which had turned into a slum, was revamped before the 2010 World Cup. It was recently put up for auction and is yet to be sold.

(Steward Masweneng)

The city landmark is not just a story about urban decay. It is also about what happens when a city loses control and what it takes to get that back

Ponte City's grand opening was in 1975. Standing at 54 storeys and 173m, she was the tallest building in Africa for 48 years straight. She was beaten by a skyscraper in Egypt, measuring a mere 5m taller.

Her fall from grace to grimy led her to being declared the first vertical slum in Africa. The original occupancy rate of this building was 1000 people. When it was declared a slum, 8 000 people lived in Ponte City without running water or electricity.

Witness accounts describe a time when the 11th and 12th floors were used to house a large brothel, along with one of the parking levels. And many can't forget the images of garbage piled up to the 14th floor. The tower of rubbish took three years to clean. Twenty-three bodies were found inside.

Trucks could not access the area, so all the garbage was removed by a team of workers. Since 2014, the internal windows have been welded shut.

The building underwent a revamp right before the 2010 World Cup.

Today it is home to more than 2 000 residents.

I have driven past and written about the building for many years and finally getting inside to see the interiors for myself was a full-circle moment for me.

When writing about Ponte, I have to be honest but I also have to be kind.

When I entered the site, my tour guide told me not to worry if I heard a loud bang because residents sometimes threw nappies and rubbish out the windows.