Imagine waking up every morning not knowing if you’ll have a drop of water to wash your face or electricity to boil the kettle.

For the people living in Zandspruit, this isn’t just a bad day; it’s the reality they wake up to every single morning. They are tired, they are frustrated, and more than anything, they just want to be heard.

Michael Mudzanani, who lives in the heart of the community, speaks with a heaviness in his voice that comes from years of being ignored. He talks about how life feels stripped back to the bare bones, where even a proper roof over your head feels like a luxury they can’t quite reach. It is a world of dark houses and dry taps, where the simple dignity of a working toilet or a clean street seems like a distant dream.

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One of the hardest things to stomach is the mountain of rubbish that sits on their doorstep. Mudzanani shared photos of local dumping sites that have been left to rot for months on end.

When the community asks for help, they are often met with excuses rather than action. He said they’ve been told the area is ‘diseased,’ which feels like a slap in the face when all they want is for the bin lorries to do their jobs. Sometimes it takes four months for anyone to show up, and by then, the mess is a danger to everyone.

The frustration goes deeper than just the lack of services; it’s the silence that hurts the most. Mudzanani said that while local councillors try to pass the message along, they don’t have the power to fix the pipes or turn the lights back on.

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According to him, Joburg Water just does ‘patchwork’ rather than fixing the leaks, and they never bother to explain why things are so broken. It leaves the residents feeling like they are shouting into a void.

This isn’t just about a bit of inconvenience; this is about families trying to stay healthy and safe in conditions that no one should have to put up with. The people of Zandspruit are calling on the city to look them in the eye and take responsibility, finally.

They aren’t asking for the world; they are just asking for the basic things that make a house a home and a community a place where people can truly live, not just survive.

The publication sent a media query to JRA, JW, Pikitup and COJ for comment, and their responses will be added once received.

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