It’s school holiday and children enjoy their freedom in the streets of Zandspruit.
Zandspruit is home, according to proportional representation ward councillor, Funzi Mokone, to over 30 000 people. Twenty-five years ago, the informal settlement was once a piece of land with a few houses scattered around.
Zandspruit is an informal settlement in the north-west of Joburg.
People from all over South Africa and even neighbouring countries, live in Zandspruit, some mostly employed in Johannesburg. However, as was evident at 10am on a Thursday morning, with many residents roaming the streets, unemploymentis one of the biggest issues facing by the community, along with a lack of electricity.
Earlier this year, Zandspruit made headlines when thousands of its residents blocked the adjacent main road, Beyers Naudé Drive, while protesting for not being provided with electricity.
Two weeks until the local government elections, this is what a typical day in Zandspruit is like:
Using passageways in between houses is a faster way to get around in Zandspruit.
A family pet getting a bath.
Small businesses like this salon are frequent in Zandspruit. Many residents manage their own businesses in the informal settlement.
The clothes dry on make-shift washing lines and add bursts of colour in the informal settlement.
Trees line certain parts of the informal settlement.
Spaza shops like these are found all over.
It’s school holiday and children enjoy their freedom in the streets of Zandspruit.
Selling old or new clothes as a means of income. You could pick up a few bargains in Zandspruit.
Women and men braid their hair in their front yards or even next to the street.
A tower graces the south-western skies of Zandspruit.
A typical house in Zandspruit, though many are not double-storey.
Not only corrugated iron is used to build homes.
Double story homes and structures pop up here and there.
Soccer in the street: arguably where many of the upcoming soccer talent is nurtured.
An attempt to keep the streets clean.
A daycare centre in Zandspruit.
More clothes dry in the sun at one of the hundreds of corrugated iron homes.
This woman sells food and sweets at her street-side business.
Parked cars under corrugated iron and wood constructed roofs.
Zandspruit is an informal settlement in the north-west of Joburg.
A view down one of the streets.
Chickens in a cage next to the road.
Washing blowing dry in the wind is a sight seen quite often in Zandspruit. Especially when the sun is out. With most residents without power, a dryer is not an option they have.
Political parties’ posters hang on poles. These also act as central points for illegal electricity connections.
Lights like these would light up large parts of the informal settlement.
The local tailor can fix your torn pants for much less than you might pay elsewhere.
Scrap or barely running cars are parks next to people’s homes.
Laughing kids playing in the street add to the vibrancy of the people living in Zandspruit.
