Buckets for toilets and no lights - Johannesburg's poorest feel let down

A view of a dilapidated block of flats in Hillbrow, where people struggle with basic services in the business district of Africa's wealthiest city, Johannesburg, South Africa, February 13, 2023. REUTERS/Shafiek Tassiem

In a dilapidated block in the business district of Africa's wealthiest city, Johannesburg, Thulani Cele and 300 others squatting in the building fill buckets with water from the only working tap so they can drink and wash.

"We are living in a terrible situation. We need toilets ... We need water," says Cele, a 40-year-old former retail worker, who adds that residents have no sanitation and must use buckets as toilets.