The man trying to make ends meet by operating forgotten municipal infrastructure in South Africa

In the shadow of the World War One monument and the old library in the Krugersdorp Central Business District (CBD), a lone figure maintains a vigil against the encroaching rot.

While the surrounding streets are marred by “urban safari” weeds, hijacked buildings and abandoned municipal infrastructure, a public toilet facility remains open not because of government services, but due to a single private citizen.

Patrick has managed the public toilets near the library since 2010. Before his intervention, the area was a sanitary disaster.

With no accessible facilities for visitors to the nearby banks or SASSA offices, the public spaces were being used as open latrines.

“There was no place where the people can go,” he recalled, explaining that he took it upon himself to clean and manage the facility when no one else would.

“People would just urinate and defecate on the streets. No wonder people have not been wanting to set up shop in the CBD,” said DA councillor Mark Trump.

Despite the facility being forgotten municipal property, Patrick operates it entirely without an official salary or support.

“I didn’t have any support… I just try to make it on that order,” he says. His livelihood depends on small public donations from users who pay a R4 fee to use the toilet.

While the municipality asserts in official statements that it conducts “regular cleaning and maintenance” of public facilities, the reality on the ground contradicts this.

The caretaker notes that he only reports to the municipality if there is a major structural failure, like a burst pipe or a blockage he cannot clear himself.

For everything else, from security, to day-to-day upkeep, he is on his own.

The situation at the library toilets mirrors the wider “doughnut effect” gripping Krugersdorp, where compliant citizens and business owners are increasingly left to fend for themselves while the centre hollows out.

Trump, during a walkabout of the area, noted the stark contrast between the caretaker’s initiative and the surrounding neglect.

“You can see the pride in some people… making it work. It’s just an uphill battle” Trump observed.

The war on vandalism

His work is a daily battle against the rampant crime and drug abuse that defines the modern Krugersdorp CBD.

The facility is under constant siege from “Nyaope” addicts and vandals who strip infrastructure for scrap metal. “They were taking all the taps… they even took the cable wires,” he explains.

To protect the facility, his days are long. He is on-site every day, including Sundays, staying until 7:00 PM to ensure the toilets remain open for the public.

The nights, however, bring the most danger. Vandalism occurs primarily after dark when the nyaope users break in to sleep or steal, starting fires that destroys much of the building.

“They break stuff every day,” he laments, noting that they even smash the glass windows just to throw stones.

To combat this, he has had to improvise security measures, including having someone sleep in the kitchen area to guard it against total destruction.

He has also formulated his own infrastructure solutions, suggesting that the municipality replace the glass with plastic windows and install a security fence to stop the break-ins, though these pleas remain theoretical in the absence of funding.

Municipality responds

In response to queries from Newsday, Mogale City said that homelessness and substance abuse remain among the most significant social challenges, which contributes to vandalism.

Spokesperson Adrian Amod said that regular outreach programmes with social workers are conducted, where they provide numerous levels of support.

Yet, “substance abuse, combined with limited shelter capacity, can constrain the effectiveness of intervention,” they said.

The municipality speaks of “complex systemic factors” and high-level “Precinct Plans” to revitalise the town, stemming back to October 2017, including upgrading public facilities and spaces.

Amod added that there are weekly by-enforcement campaigns, “focusing on compliance, safety, environmental management and the orderly use of public spaces.”

However, this caretaker is not waiting for those plans to become a reality. He is a man who, faced with a crumbling town, decided to pick up a mop and hold the line.

As Patrick puts it simply, “I try to maintain them… because there’s nowhere they can go”. “I live in a shack. I cannot wait for handouts because they won’t come. I need to put food on my table.”

Inside the forgotten municipal facility