Prominent Johannesburg neighbourhood so overcrowded sewage floods the streets

The Randburg suburbs of Windsor, Windsor East and Windsor West have deteriorated over the decades, going from an affluent family suburb to a hub for drug use, overflowing with sewage that is largely ignored by city management. 

The neighbourhood is currently flooded with sewage, a common and recurring occurrence. The latest instance of this problem began on 27 October.

Sewage gushes onto Republic Road, a main arterial Johannesburg road, creating what Ward 98 Councillor Beverley Jacobs describes as “craters”, not just potholes. 

Jacobs has been calling for the City of Johannesburg (COJ) to upgrade the sewer and water reticulation systems in the neighbourhood for months. 

The ward councillor blames ageing infrastructure, overpopulation and residents throwing things down drains as the main causes of the sewerage issues. 

“I have written to the environmental health inspector, I have written to the executive mayor, I have written to the shadow MMC of Infrastructure regarding my long-outstanding request for the reticulation system in Windsor,” she said. 

“The city has failed the residents. I cannot leave it like this anymore. COJ is not doing anything; bylaw enforcement is not happening.”

“They have not done maintenance, yet they are going around for G20 putting lipstick on a pig,” she said.

Jacobs said that overcrowding in the area is placing huge strain on already collapsing infrastructure, making upgrades to the system urgent for the community.

“Our residents can no longer live like this. It is not good for our environment,” Jacobs added. Johannesburg water appears on the scene sometimes when sewage overflows become extreme, but only provides temporary solutions. 

The area runs parallel to the prestigious Randpark Golf Course, and overflowing sewage spews down to the golf course and ends up in the river that runs through it, the ward councillor explained.

In 2016 and 2019, then-DA Mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba visited the area and agreed that the COJ was failing to halt crime, and slum lords and drug dealers had stripped the area of its wealth, according the the Randburg Sun.

He said the Windsor area had fallen into decay. Nothing of significance has been done since then, according to Jacobs.

Years of neglect by the City of Johannesburg

During his visit, Mashaba said the city was turning a blind eye to the illegal occupations and decay of infrastructure in the area. 

Today, Jacobs said the city continues to neglect Windsor, where pipes are bursting on every corner and abandoned buildings are used as drug dens. 

A problematic hotspot in the area is the Courtyard, an abandoned block of flats that has fallen into ruins. 

Jacobs said this has been an issue for several years, and the government does not address the proble,, and when officials do show up, they are not handling it correctly.

“We had [MMC] Kenny Kunene come here a few weeks ago, slapping people around, coming in here with balaklavas and security, pointing guns at people trying to get this mess sorted out,” said Jacobs. 

Jacobs said this is not the way to handle the situation, evidenced by the Ward Councillor’s necessary cleanup operation a few weeks later in September when illegal occupants returned.

According to Cynthia Gaddin, who owns the Spiritualist Centre that has been in Windsor West for 30 years, the area began to deteriorate at the dawn of democracy. 

“Our area used to be quite an affluent suburb, but slowly and surely, most people moved away,” she said to the Randburg Sun.

Recently, the church has witnessed instances of drug dealing and prostitution. 

The area consists of freehold houses and apartment blocks, most of them built between the 1970s and 2000s.

Some homeowners abandoned their properties when they left, which were then taken over by crime bosses who rent the rooms. 

Newsday reached out to the spokesperson for Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero but did not receive a response by the time of publishing.