Gauteng

Johannesburg's abandoned and neglected inner-city buildings have become slum dwellings for thousands of people, many of them jobless migrants, who endure over-crowding, poor or non-existent sanitation and limited access to running water and electricity because of a lack of affordable alternatives.With their broken or boarded up windows, peeling paintwork and unlit doorways, many of the buildings appear uninhabited from the outside, but often house up to 1,000 people in a warren-like maze of shacks and flimsy partitions. Living in slum buildings often has consequences for the residents’ health, but undocumented migrants are usually reluctant to seek treatment at one of the city’s public clinics. Since 2007, international...

  About 250 000 people live in slum buildings of inner-city Johannesburg. Many of these residents are migrants from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of South Africa. South Africa's moratorium on deportations for undocumented migrants lifted on 31 July 2011, which calls into question the future for the thousands of people who fall between the cracks - without the rights afforded by refugee status or temporary resident permits, they live beneath the surface, trapped without options. Living conditions in the slum buildings are often appalling, warren-like spaces, many without access to clean water, light, electricity or waste disposal. Médecins...

Johannesburg, South Africa – Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation, condemns the full or partial closure of vital antiretroviral therapy (ART), tuberculosis (TB), and other chronic medication services at public sector facilities due to the protracted public service strike.   MSF demands that the South African government work with the trade unions to ensure these life-saving healthcare services are fully re-opened immediately – both at public sector hospitals and primary healthcare clinics.   As the national public service strike reaches the 15 day mark, MSF witnesses the dire consequences of the shutdown of public...