THE mixture of human excrement and rotting rubbish festering on the banks of the Jukskei River creates a pungent aroma that hovers over the riverside shacks in Alexandra township.
When the Jukskei floods, the front line of motley shelters built precariously on the flaky bank is usually washed away. Last year eight people drowned.
Margaret Motsiyo, who occupies shack 861, says she “runs” uphill to drier shacks when it rains. She moved to the township from Tzaneen in the Northern Province and has since lost three of her five children. They “got sick”. She could not say what caused their deaths. Alexandra is served by one clinic.
Apart from a smattering of brick housing and apartment blocks, Alexandra has become a warren of tiny, makeshift, overcrowded shacks. Toilets are a luxury; a few portable chemical huts are provided by the Eastern council.
Goats and cows wander the streets, a throwback to the rural roots of many residents. Emaciated dogs sift through huge piles of rubbish.
Shacks in some areas, such as the river bank, are so tightly packed that it is impossible to navigate through them without crouching to avoid overhanging zinc roofs.
Each dwelling is secured with a chain and a padlock as gangs periodically raid them for the occasional prized possession like a stereo.
Alexandra’s population has doubled in the past 10 years to about 500 000, according to rough estimates.
Eight years ago 27 families a day were believed to be moving in. Mzwanele Mayekiso, president of the township’s South African National Civic Organisation branch, said the figure has certainly increased.
A section of the township is called Maputo, where the predominant language is Portugese.
The pressure to expand this section and neighbouring Stjuetla is so great that several shacks have been constructed on top of graves in the adjoining cemetery.
The high school attended by Stjuetla children asks an annual contribution of R30 to R50, subject to a means test. Of the school’s 1400 students, about a quarter have paid.
Alexandra’s schools are wracked by violence and crime. One teacher said a pupil of hers had been shot dead over the weekend by her boyfriend, while two schoolboys had been arrested last week on hijacking charges.
Many children suffer from malnutrition. Those who do not make it to school play alongside the goats in the Jukskei, which also serves as a sewer.
Most residents are still engaged in a rent boycott. The services that exist are pathetic. Mayekiso says that even if the council does deign to collect rubbish the streets are filthy by midday.
The only obvious signs of development in most of Alexandra are tarred roads, which are generally in an appalling state, and the odd communal tap. “They [the government] need a Marshall Plan here,” said Mayekiso.
He added that, in addition to the illegal immigrants, many of the shack-dwellers come from outside Gauteng. There is some predictable resentment among residents towards the Mozambicans, although several of them have become active in the civic organisation.
Unemployment is estimated at 60% to 80% and the number of adults roaming the streets during work hours appears to support this. Most of those who do work are employed in neighbouring Sandton.
They go there in taxis. No buses or trains link Alexandra to the rest of South Africa.