'Here, no one judges us': the gritty life under Joburg's revamped M2 highway

Fewer accidents and less noise are some of the “benefits” that homeless people living under the refurbished M2 motorway in Johannesburg have noticed - a year after the motorway was closed for repairs.

But the drugs and hardships endured by these "residents" remain the same.

TimesLIVE visited one of the bridges on Tuesday, a year after writing about people living under the then unstable structures. The refurbished motorway was reopened in November 2019.

It cost the city close to R160m to refurbish the highway, one of the city's main arteries linking the N3 and M1 with the city and western parts of Johannesburg.

Tebogo Mokoena, who has lived under the bridge for three years, said he never left his “home” while the repairs were under way.

“I’ve been living here for three years. I come from Free State. To be honest with you, I came here because of my unruly behaviour and drug addiction,” Mokoena said, as he prepared to inject himself with a mixture of powder and liquid.

The bridge, he said, was quieter and he had not noticed accidents since the revamp.

“There used to be a lot of accidents around here. It was mostly trucks that caused them.

“We used to see accidents daily around here. Some were fatal, but people did not care much about dead bodies. Their main focus was on what they could salvage from the trucks,” he said.

Like most men living under the bridge, Mokoena makes a living by collecting empty plastic bottles, cans and cardboard boxes to sell.

Koos Majola, a car guard at Carlton Centre, has lived under the bridge since 2007. He makes about R300 a day, enough to buy food, clothes and other “necessities”. He is from Orange Farm.

“I wish I could go back home, but I don’t want to be around my parents when I am smoking drugs. At least here, I am doing an honest living. I am not robbing anyone,” he said.

Clement Nocanda, from Queenstown, has spent seven years under the bridge. For him, life has not changed since the revamp.

“My life is the same. I do the same thing every day - get up in the morning, get my fix [drugs] and go hustle in the CBD.”

He said he has not gone home since April last year when his father died.

“I called my mother one day and she told me my father had passed away. I went home to bury my father and came back,” Nocanda said.

Thabang Mokoena, his friend, said it was easier to “hustle” under the bridge than live at home in Sebokeng, south of Johannesburg, with his parents and siblings.

“Here, my sister, we are able to hustle fast and no one judges us. We all share the same struggles.”