Johannesburg - a city of risk and opportunity

Fresh off the bus at Park Station, one of the greatest challenges facing any newcomer to Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub, is accommodation.

In the rundown, seedy, downtown residential areas of Hillbrow, Berea and Joubert Park, up to seven people can share one room, and large numbers of homeless are on the pavement every night.

And then there is the crime. 'Jo'burg' has a reputation like no other city in Africa: while opportunities beckon, the perceived risks include being stabbed or shot, raped or robbed.

Those who can afford it have moved out of the central suburbs. In turn, new arrivals from the rest of South Africa drift in, joined by an estimated 20,000 migrants each month from all over the continent - many of them illegal.

Amidst the poverty, crime cartels have taken hold, operating drug and prostitution rings, often preying on the desperation of illegal immigrants and the most vulnerable. Overstretched local authorities seem unable to cope with the regular burst sewage and water pipes, and the ever-rising heaps of rubbish which adds to the urban decay.

Sizakele Nkosi, a member of the Johannesburg Mayoral Committee on Health and Public Safety, said the local authority was concerned about the state of public health and had initiated a clean-up campaign that would involve local and national government social services. She cited the recent removal of beggars from street intersections as one of the measures to help the needy get assistance.

"Most of the people who were rounded up were sent to the appropriate government structures for assistance. Those who did not have identity cards were also referred to the department of home affairs," she said in an interview with a local radio station.

Despite the problems, there are many who believe life in Johannesburg is not all about crime, drugs and general despair. For Eddie Ekweume, a Nigerian businessman who runs an internet cafe in Yeoville, just beyond the downtown suburbs, the city has its rewards.

"I came here in 1993. I was employed for some time before I decided to set up my own communications business - my life has really improved since then. We always have trouble with petty criminals around here, but that does not spoil our day," said Ekweume.

The cosmopolitan nature of Johannesburg is most evident in the central business district: Chinese shops are back to back with Greek restaurants; Nigerian-owned pawn shops are almost obscured by Zimbabwean street traders selling roasted chicken feet; an Afrikaans-speaking supervisor bellows instructions at workers on a nearby construction site.

The major complaint of the immigrants interviewed by IRIN was of ill treatment by the police and regular flat-by-flat raids in search of illegal aliens.

Recent estimates from the Department of Home Affairs indicate that the country has only 100,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, but the number of illegal Zimbabweans alone is estimated at two million.

Despite the frustrations, many Zimbabweans who spoke to IRIN considered themselves lucky to have made it to the city. "Life in Johannesburg has plenty of problems. We always worry about being arrested for lack of papers, but this place is far better than home. I was a hairdresser back at home, but I never earned as much as I get here in just one week," said Nobukhosi Tshabangu, who operates on a pavement in Hillbrow.

Walking down Hillbrow's Quartz Street it seems that everyone is in a business of some sort, their wares out on public display. Public telephone operators, seated at their tables, are oblivious to the urine that occasionally flows down the gutter into an open drain.

According to Emille Kagwa, a Rwandan waiter who works in the fashionable northern suburb of Rosebank: "Johannesburg has two faces if you are an immigrant, illegal or otherwise. Hard workers always make it, but the lazy ones don't. Poor people exist side by side with the rich, and the opportunities are endless - so it is just a matter of choosing your side."

See Special Report on Southern African cities in transition