Elections 2026: N1 town’s decade of decay - EWN

If there were three things Elaine Wessels could fix in her suburb in Beaufort West, it would be the gravel roads, street lighting, and the time it takes the municipality to respond to electricity and water complaints.

Wessels has lived for the past 35 years in Rustdene in the house of her late mother. She lives with her five adult children, all of whom are unemployed. She works as a cleaner in a community work programme, a state initiative for otherwise unemployed residents. She turns 60 next year.