Joburg's rushed makeover

COSMETIC SURGERY: CITY HURRIES TO PRESENT FRESH FACE TO G20 LEADERS THIS MONTH

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When G20 leaders touch down in Johannesburg next week, they will be greeted by a city scrubbed, patched and polished, all part of a last-minute summit gloss thrown over years of neglect.

The urban sprawl of almost six million people is home to Africa's richest square mile. In recent years, however, it has sunk into disrepair, with open sewers, potholed roads and crowded shacks of corrugated iron lining its fraying edges.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, dismayed by the decay, called the city's state "not pleasing" and ordered a cleanup to spare Africa's industry powerhouse global embarrassment.

Then the bulldozers rolled in.

"It is such a huge shame it had to take other people coming to South Africa for action to be taken," said Abigail Thando, 34, an insurance broker scouting for clients along the streets of Johannesburg's student district.