Frustrated residents unite to fight terminal decline of Joburg's eastern suburbs

Frustration, pain, financial loss and anger plague Johannesburg’s inner city eastern suburbs as residents watch their beloved neighbourhoods slide into ever-deeper decline because of service delivery collapse, a lack of law enforcement, absent maintenance and failure to repair infrastructure that is buckling under the weight of unregulated densification.

Affected areas include Malvern, Kensington, Bezuidenhout Valley, Bertrams, Troyeville, Observatory, Yeoville, Jeppestown, Berea, Cyrildene and more. These suburbs, among Joburg’s oldest and most densely populated, date back to the Randlord days.

Daily Maverick investigated the daily problems facing these these hard-hit communities where at least 100,000 people live with daily service delivery issues that are not just an inconvenience, but an existential threat to schools, old age homes, businesses, livelihoods and public safety, causing a loss in the value of local properties, often the biggest investment anyone will make in their lifetimes. 

Daily water and electricity cuts are the main issues. At local schools, classes and activities frequently come to a halt, old age homes have to rely on food donations from the community during outages, businesses face closure and residents suffer outages, sometimes for up to two weeks. 

Desperate residents have formed water and electricity WhatsApp groups where councillors, officials and residents exchange hundreds of messages daily, communicating the cuts and causes and estimated times of restoration.

Recently, after frustrated residents failed to get answers from their ward councillors, DA Gauteng MPL Jack Bloom posed formal questions at the legislature to Gauteng Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Jacob Mamabolo. In a written reply, Mamabolo admitted there had been 144 power outages — two a week — since January 2024 due to failures at the Observatory and Bellevue substations. 

Read more: Joburg power crisis — almost 100,000 reported outages in 9 months, 5,126 very serious

The water outages, according to the ward councillors, are too numerous to record as these include short ones of a few hours, water load rotation, which happens daily, and low pressure that often leads to empty taps.

But these are just two pressing issues that residents face daily.

Maintenance backlog

The root causes, according to residents, of all these suburbs’ problems are a lack of maintenance and capital expenditure, and huge pressure on the systems because of unregulated densification and illegal connections.

Compounding this are multiple by-law infringements, with little or no enforcement.

Malvern, Bez Valley and Yeoville have seen repeated service delivery protests, with Malvern experiencing about five in the past six months.

Ravin Singh is the spokesperson for Communities Uniting to Fix Region F, a group formed to bring together various community groups, including churches and youth, women’s, sports and civic associations, to assist the council and to demand action from the City.

The group has already had several meetings to discuss future actions, their own responsibilities, and demands from the City.

“Our group is non-political, aiming to restore enforcement, improve delivery and press for maintenance. Some of these issues need provincial and national intervention,” said Singh.

He warned: “We are ready, willing and able to assist, but without the City’s buy-in, these suburbs will keep sliding.”

Water and electricity

Regarding electricity, Singh said that the City Power reporting system was ineffective, forcing residents to report faults in person. Security at vulnerable sites was lacking.

The group was now demanding a 24-hour turnaround, transparent monthly reporting, insourcing of technical staff, ring-fencing electricity income for infrastructure, and the prosecution of syndicates, Singh said.

Water reservoirs were often critically low, vandalised or unsecured, while chronic leaks, burst pipes and non-functional hydrants worsened the crisis.

“Johannesburg Water’s call centre is ineffective, slow borehole approvals drive illegal drilling, and tanker tenders raise suspicion. We demand procurement transparency, faster repairs, better communication, coordinated road reinstatements and densification by-law enforcement,” said Singh.

Read more: How a burst pipe in Randburg exposes Joburg’s deepening water crisis

Illegal buildings and densification

Illegal buildings, backyard dwellings, hijacked or unlawfully occupied houses, liquor outlets, unlicensed spaza shops, unzoned places of worship and guesthouses have proliferated.

Many people could not get bins as they unlawfully occupied buildings, and the City required a rates account to issue bins, said Singh. This resulted in daily illegal dumping, with residents waking up most mornings to piles of rubbish, including old furniture, dumped on street corners.

It was a catch-22 situation, he said, because these illegal structures weren’t on City records, and planning and budgeting didn’t include the real numbers, which resulted in under-budgeting. Costly, cumbersome building regulations, with plan approvals taking months, if not years, further deterred legal compliance, added Singh. 

“Densification accelerates as single-family homes are converted into multifamily dwellings without matching infrastructure. Rates and service charges, which should increase in properties being run as businesses, remain unchanged, causing the City revenue loss. Building inspectors are absent or overwhelmed, with many developments lacking paper trails,” he said. “Many such properties have illegal connections.”

The group is calling for commune registration, fines, the expropriation of hijacked properties and coordinated enforcement. 

“We’re not opposed to densification, but it must be legal,” Singh said. “Most residents are decent people seeking better lives. They deserve proper services and lawful development.”

Crime

Drug dealing, robberies, muggings, illegal liquor sales, expired food, illicit cigarettes, brothels disguised as guesthouses, and hijacked buildings used for trafficking and drug storage were rife in these suburbs. The root causes, said Singh, included a lack of by-law enforcement, minimal policing, bribery, underreporting due to fear, and civic apathy.

Scrap yards operated in residential homes. Hijacked or unlawfully occupied buildings, unemployment, housing shortages and corruption worsened the crisis, said Singh.

Roads, parks and by-laws

Potholes, broken drains, illegal dumping and vandalised traffic lights were common. 

“The Johannesburg Roads Agency uses excessive outsourcing, has poor oversight and lacks skills. We want stricter enforcement, visible agency presence, job cards for work done, and resourced depots,” said Singh.

Illegal dumping was rife across all suburbs. Again, this was the result of illegal densification and hijacked, multi-tenanted properties where occupants could not get bins as they were not issued without a rates account, said Singh.

Regarding parks, popular ones such as Rhodes, Bez Valley and Joubert had no security, toilets or bins. 

“City Parks is accused of selective prioritisation. Residents demand more staff, policing, rehabilitation of facilities and the repurposing of derelict libraries,” he added.

‘We are taking control’

But how do people in the eastern suburbs feel? Daily Maverick spoke to several residents, councillors, activists and businesses.

Everything is wrong in Malvern, said resident Michele Spadino: “This is from water, to power, to impassable streets, non-functioning traffic and street lights, illegal dumping, uncontrolled illegal building and illegal businesses on every corner. We’ve had regular service delivery protests — five in the past five months. There is a mess everywhere. There is dumping everywhere — it is a total mess.”

Unathi Mbolekwa of the Yeoville Bellevue Civic Movement said there had been a gradual deterioration of electricity issues since 2023 when a substation blew up, but things were improving slightly.

“The problems are exacerbated by poor repair work being done, slow payments to contractors, and corruption. We organised several protests which improved matters,” he said, citing hijacked buildings and a lack of adherence to by-laws.

“But, as a group, we are taking control of — and managing — these issues as they arise.”

Read more: Johannesburg: Yeoville clean-up delivers pride and pressure for real change

Nomsa Mbatha, another member of the Yeoville Bellevue Residents’ Association, said crime and by-law infringements remained high. 

“We have reached an agreement with Pikitup now, and they do come and clean regularly.”

Water outages in Cyrildene happen almost daily. Resident Jean van Staden said: “We have often been without water for two weeks at a time. Now people have invested in JoJo tanks so when water is restored, their tanks get filled first, leaving others without.”

Businesses were suffering because of adverse conditions in lower Kensington, said Ravi Perumal, manager of a Toyota dealership. He helped form a community group called Better Queen Street to upgrade the area.

“Queen Street has declined from a bustling business hub, but we now meet weekly with councillors and officials, fund street cleaning, have installed cameras, and there is visible transformation,” he said.

Matthias Erhard of Kensington said water was the main daily issue. 

“To add insult to injury, when it comes back only air runs through the pipes for up to 15 minutes at a time, and the meter turns — I got a R12,000 bill.”

Read more: Mayor, bomb squad go AWOL as hundreds of thousands of Joburg households go without water – again

Navin Buchu of Keep it Clean (KiCK) decided to organise his own cleaning for Kensington after years of frustration. He formed a group of community activists that now communicates daily with residents over issues in the area. Many surrounding neighbourhoods have joined in.

“Residents are organising themselves into street groups to keep their areas clean. We are also doing bin audits to assist those who don’t have bins with black plastic bags. We plant food gardens on pavements and run numerous education campaigns.

“We try to build good relationships with officials, especially with Pikitup, which quickly responds where there is illegal dumping, which is almost daily. We have proved that effective communication and the goodwill of department officials who feel residents are assisting them can bring about big changes to suburbs,” said Buchu.  

Queens High School has experienced numerous power failures that have forced exam cancellations, halted learner applications and disrupted hostel operations. The school cleans its perimeter at its own cost, creating financial strain, disrupting academic schedules, compromising nutrition and posing serious road safety risks at an inoperative pedestrian crossing, according to an internal document that Daily Maverick has seen.

Madelaine Delgado worries constantly about her 94- and 86-year-old parents living in Kensington

“My aged mother has to carry buckets of water if there is no one around to assist, and we constantly worry about my father’s oxygen tank stopping because of power cuts. We do have back-ups, but sometimes the outages last for days. It is of great concern,” she said.

City budget

About 50% of properties in Yeoville were illegally connected, almost every stormwater drain was blocked, and many roads were impassable because of the potholes, said Yeoville/Bellevue ward councillor David Modupi. Service delivery issues were a major challenge because of budget constraints and a lack of maintenance.

“But another issue is that in these areas, residents are not concerned with municipal issues — their main concerns are jobs and financial security, so ward issues are not a priority.”  

The councillors agreed that despite high density, high-rise buildings, businesses and shopping centres bringing in the most revenue, Region F was underserved in terms of the City’s budget. 

Read more: Wanted: A new government for Johannesburg’s great people

Malvern councillor Neuren Pietersen said: “Although the Region F budget looks big, it is divided into two — Region F1 and F — which are east and south of the CBD. So in fact it is not a lot of money considering these areas make the highest contribution to the City in terms of rates.

“More budget should be allocated for maintenance. The City is approving big, new densification developments elsewhere, which we welcome, yet they ignore the informal densification happening on normal residential properties.”

Bez Valley councillor Carlos da Rocha said councillors had become the “call centres” for complaints. 

“We have no authority over officials or their contractors, so besides escalating problems, we have no control.”

Shoddy workmanship was a major cause of problems. 

“The different departments dig up pavements and the trenches remain open for up to eight months. We have water running for six months, which erodes nearby streets resulting in potholes,” he said.

City response

Johannesburg Water confirmed that suburbs in Region F “remain a sensitive and prioritised area”.

City spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said interruptions had been caused by a combination of technical challenges, planned Rand Water maintenance, demand exceeding supply, airlocks in the network and burst or leaking pipes. Leaks and bursts were prioritised to minimise water losses and protect reservoir capacity, he added.

“Reservoir levels and interruptions are communicated to ward councillors, with service delivery escalations logged on the Region F councillors’ group. In cases of prolonged outages, alternative water supply is arranged and communicated through dedicated WhatsApp groups.”

Mukhethwa Mudau, Pikitup Norwood depot’s regional manager, said the issuing of refuse bins followed an established policy requiring customers to hold an official municipal account.

“However, recognising that parts of Region F include hijacked or informally occupied buildings, we continue to provide basic waste services that include weekly collections, daily street cleaning and the clearing of illegal dumping. Where access is controlled, skip bins and second-hand 240l wheelie bins are also provided to reduce illegal dumping.”

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo said it maintained parks in line with the City’s Integrated Development Plan: developed parks on a 30-day cycle, undeveloped on a 60-day cycle, and flagship parks daily.

Spokesperson Jenny Moodley said: “While some parks remain vibrant and well used, others face vandalism, theft, illegal dumping, homelessness and substance abuse, which compromise safety and quality. Due to financial and staffing constraints, the City is increasingly seeking partnerships with residents, businesses and community organisations to co-manage parks, adopt facilities and improve safety.”

City Power has conceded that much of Johannesburg’s electricity network is crumbling under the weight of age and neglect. 

“The infrastructure is over 60 years old,” MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Jack Sekwaila Mamabolo, confirmed in response to questions from the DA’s Bloom.

Read more: City in the dark — Power cuts choke Joburg’s once-vibrant small businesses

The utility admitted that load shedding further damaged already fragile equipment, forcing technicians to patch up faults with “temporary measures”. Oil-filled cables, long obsolete and notoriously slow to repair, remained in service, while heat damage, theft and vandalism worsened an already dire situation.

According to City Power, half of all outages were caused by faults on transmission lines.

But some steps were being taken. A third transformer had been commissioned at Observatory, while old oil cables at Bellevue were being replaced with cross-linked polyethylene. Standby transformers had also been installed to shorten response times.

Projects to strengthen supply included replacing one of the two high-voltage cables between the Observatory and Bellevue stations, with the second circuit due for completion before the end of the financial year. A transformer had already been reinstated at Bellevue. DM