Migrant workers pour into Johannesburg and surrounding areas in search of work. Many of them are single men and find themselves living in hostels and around the city. Since the 1994 elections, the government undertook to improve the appalling conditions in these bleak, single-sex institutions. A visit to Mamelodi Hostel north of Johannesburg proves that nothing much has changed. Some men have brought their families to stay with them, but lack of privacy is a major problem. And the basic conditions are as bad, if not worse, than ever.

© Themba Hadebe