A pool of sewage has been running around Thabiso Modise’s tiny shack and has become a source of water for stray dogs that roam around Gatvol informal settlement in Mangaung, Free State.
“This is the life I’ve become used to ever since I arrived at this place five years ago. Life is a daily struggle here,” said Thabiso as he inspects the growing stinking puddle at the back of his house.
The dirty water oozes from a blocked manhole from a building behind his shack.
It flows from his yard into a thoroughfare and into other yards some 300m away.
Most residents have built their own pit latrine toilets which they share with those who don’t have the means to build their own.
To gain entry in the small settlement one has to use a thoroughfare which is also a dumping site and then hop over a fence.
Many residents of Gatvol, which means "fed up" in SA slang, believe the settlement earned its because of the frustration over its squalor conditions and lack of services.
Gatvol is home to about 600 small shacks, and its population is dominated by young Lesotho nationals who had come to the Free State capital to seek a better life. Some of the residents come as far as Eastern Cape.
It’s a congested community that shares four communal taps, one of which is illegally connected to a water supply from a nearby warehouse, where Liam Jenovo, 14, was shot and killed by a security guard during service delivery protests and looting of shops that started last week Monday.
“I understand why people would go to that extent of using violence to express their plight. I’m fortunate that I have piece jobs that barely sustain my girlfriend and mother but those who are unemployed are having it worse and it becomes even more humiliating when they are subjected to squalor conditions we have in Gatvol.
"We normally have cordial relations with foreign shop owners and they didn’t deserve to have their shops looted,” said Modise.
Neliswa Ntsipo left her hometown of Dutywa, Eastern Cape, to seek work in Bloemfontein.
“It’s not nice to live here. It smells of sewage even at night. It's dark at night and because of that there have been many instances of muggings and house breakings,” said Ntsipo.
Mangaung municipality spokesperson Qondile Khedama was emailed questions on Thursday and had promised to reply by Friday but had not done so by yesterday despite several reminders.
Sowetan had asked him questions on the settlement, waste management, potholes, the disused taxi rank and the alleged confiscation of their printers.
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