In pictures: Joburg's crowded township

Living conditions are worse still for the 40 families in Alexandra's 7th Avenue squatter settlement, who live in shacks of wood and tin on a site with no proper drainage.

"Even yesterday, the water was flooding the shacks," says Mamuthipa Mohale.

She shows where her son lived until the day before the photo was taken. During the night, a river of rainwater and sewage flowed down the alley and into the shack.