Roosters cluck, dogs dig through heaps of mud and garbage, music blasts from a distance, children's cries and laughter can be heard from miles away and raw sewage trickles past the doorsteps of many dishevelled houses. This is the flood-hit Themba Khoza informal settlement, near Ivory Park, outside Tembisa.
BuaNews senior reporter, Bathandwa Mbola, visited the impoverished community after heavy floods hit the area.
To frail Adam Molapo, the settlement is the only place he calls home. The vile smell of sewage streaming past his house, although overpowering, doesn't seem to bother him any longer.
The settlement is still a home to the 92-year-old Adam and his 77-year-old wife Tryphoster.
The two and many others in the settlement are victims of the heavy rains that have hit many parts of the country.
When BuaNews visited the area a week after the flooding struck, residents were still mopping up their floors and repairing what was left of their shacks - cardboard walls are swollen and warped by the rainwater.
And for the flood- hit Themba Khoza residents, the incessant rains have brought nothing but misery.
Adam and Tryphoster say they were saved from drowning from the chest-high waters by their old metal coal-stove - it was the only stable furniture in the house - everything else was swept away.
The two clung to their stove for almost 30 minutes before the South African Police Service rescued them.
"As I am standing here I have nothing, we've lost everything. Our food, clothes are gone with the water," says Adam, who has been a resident at the settlement for eight years.
With his thick glasses perched on his head, his disgruntled face depicts a tale of despair, even behind his shy smile. His remaining teeth threaten to fall out when he smiles, making him look unintentionally comical.
"Our government has forgotten us, my child ... we have been promised to be moved a number of times- but nothing ever happens," says Adam.
The two rely on the government social grant for survival. They have lost all hope that their lives will change in their life time.
"I have been waiting all my life- I'm too old to wait any longer. I am used to this life," says Adam.
Themba Khoza settlement is home to more than 2000 families -most of who live in two by three meter shacks constructed from pretty much any material one can lay his or her hands on. Such materials include wood, plastic, cardboard and scrap metal.
Of these 2000 families, just over 700 are South Africans, while the rest are from neighbouring Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Community leader, Isaac Nyalungu says HIV/AIDS, high unemployment, food insecurity and persistent crime are endemic issues in settlements such as these. He says there is also no electricity and only four water taps.
"It is going to take a little longer before things get back to normal again," says Nyalungu.
In Themba Khoza alone, which is not too far from other informal settlements such as Baghdad and Tokyo which suffered similar fates, more than 40 families had to be evacuated to a nearby police station when the floods hit.
Another victim, mother of four, Andiswa Mbangatha, has survived several floods since 2006. Floods that hit the impoverished community last October took the life of her two year old daughter.
"Since last year, these floods have been really terrible. They [floods] have no mercy but I guess we can't predict or question God," says the 28-year-old standing next to her shack built next to an open sewerage drain.
She offers BuaNews a chance to assess the damage in her humble shack. Inside it's extremely dark- there is not a single window in sight.
"I can't have windows here because of the sewage ... when it rains we can't sleep. When it's hot the sewerage stinks even more- we can't escape," explains Mbangatha who settled in the settlement four years ago. She came from the Eastern Cape looking for work- but has never had a permanent job.
Mbangatha explains that the sewage often flows into her shack: "Yes, it often happens right throughout the year," she says, pushing her black beanie away from her forehead.
"My kids have had diarrhoea episodes every week since birth," she says.
She relives the day of the floods- they were woken up in the early hours of the morning by people screaming outside.
"When we woke up we found out that our house was flooded but we were still able to get out and run to a place of safety," she remembers.
Everything in the house is damaged by the water, including the bed, food, blankets, clothes, identity documents and all their important papers and books.
Mbangatha says the only thing she wants from government is a decent house and job. "I don't want them to donate food or clothing- because the floods will come and wash them way again. I want to be moved to a better place," she pleads.
Although the water has subsided in the area- it has left extensive damage. Furniture has been destroyed and people are still trying to sort through the rubble.
Young men are busy collecting all the clothing they can find, while the women are washing them.
The residents stood by curiously as the Gift of the Givers Foundation, provided food, hygiene and household detergent packages, to the destitute families.
The foundation's Allauddin Sayed feared that the conditions at the settlement would turn into a humanitarian crisis.
"This area is not healthy and I fear that these people might be at risk of getting water-borne diseases. People lost their groceries and clothes, but we are here to give them immediate disaster relief," says Sayed.
I'm interrupted by a smartly dressed and charming young man who introduces himself as Bongani Mula -who offers to detail other problems that they face as a community.
'To tell you the truth my sister, this is not a place to have high expectations and aspirations ...but I don't allow that to dampen my dreams."
He says most of the residents complain that nothing has changed since he started living there.
Mula says they are frustrated because they say no one from the municipality has come to assist them.
"There are a whole lot of houses under water. There is nothing being done for these people," he says.
The 25-year-old Mula is a dreamer in a place that swallows up dreams, a loner in an overcrowded township, an honest person in a system of lawlessness and lies. But still, he's a dreamer.
While he has no formal education after matric- the part time "jack of all trades" dreams of having his own construction company and living in a decent house one day.
"For now, we will solve our problems ourselves," he says.
More than twenty eight municipalities in seven provinces have been declared disaster areas and more than 100 people have been killed since the rains began.
The South African Weather Service has warned of more heavy rains and possible flooding in several provinces for weeks to come.
Government says it has spent more than R20 million on humanitarian and other services and still needs more funds.
While the floods have hit poor communities like Themba Khoza hard, the strength, courage, friendliness and modest hopes of the people shine through their smiles of despair.
