A woman is dragged by police as they arrest her as part of a group of 15 for public violence.

Children pass the passageway between the hostels and their school. Fires were lit in the passageway to prevent people from going to work. The school was closed on Thursday.

Kids sleep in a hostel room. The tenant in this flat pays R2,000 a month, he says, plus utilities. Since the land was sold by the mine to a private company, the cost has continued to rise.

Children share a phone. The hostel at Durban Deep is drab, run-down and features many houses that have been demolished when rent has not been paid.

Enesh Honwana, 43, complains that her electricity connection is dangerous and they pay exorbitant amounts for utilities. Residents around her sum up the problem. If they’re kicked off this land, which is privately owned, where will they go? Why do their kids have to change schools? Will they find anywhere else when accommodation and jobs aren’t easy to come by? Why can’t government help, like they have promised?

The hostel existed to serve the Durban Deep mine. Now, it sits desolately next to the mining dump, the remains of a system of labour and profit that has deserted the location. DM

Main photo: Segomotsi Bogosi holds a photograph of Tshepo Mabuseng, 28, who shared a room in her flat and was killed in the protests on Thursday morning. He was allegedly killed by a police officer “for no reason”, the locals say.