As angry residents attack the dealers, the police move in, take another hand-out and turn a blind eye to the comings and goings, write Roger Young and Simon Doda. Mpumelelo Buthelezi took the pictures.

It was sometime in 1994, shortly after liberation, when Hillbrow began to change.

From a well-regarded cosmopolitan but white area, a sort of Bohemia replete with cinemas, books shops, record and comic shops, coffee shops galore and a vibrant high-street culture, it became a place where white people ventured into only to buy drugs. 

And you could buy drugs everywhere.

Certain buildings were well known among clubbers and weekend users as places you could just pull up at and buy, mostly cocaine. 

But, as the whites left, the community that moved into Hillbrow solidified and so did their stance against drugs.

Community pressure saw the drug trade move to two distinct areas: The corner of O’Reilly and Fife streets, known as The Sands after a former hotel on O'Reilly, and the corner of Esselen and Quartz, known as the Cape Agulhas, after the apartment block of that name, home to dealers specialising in rock or crack cocaine. 

Residents and street addicts believed the police were in the dealers’ employ and so did not do anything to protect the community.

All it took was about 30 minutes’ sitting across the street from where the dealers plied their trade to observe police vans from different wards and divisions pulling up and receiving handouts.

Duchess Court, on the corner of O'Reilly and Fife, technically in Berea, was known as a safe house for heroin dealers. They kept the drugs inside the building and sent runners inside when a client made an order. 

But two months ago the security company hired to run the comings and goings of Duchess Court, 24/7 Security, left and residents employed the notorious Bad Boys Security to take over. 

Within days all dealers were ousted and no trade was allowed on the pavement. 

So trade moved across the street and all hell broke loose. The street addicts who slept rough were hustled up the road and condensed into a smaller area and the residents of the building opposite were up in arms.

Emboldened by their neighbours’ success, they confronted the street dwellers and dealers on O'Reilly Road on October 6.

Resulting clashes between Hillbrow’s self-appointed community guards, street addicts, alleged heroin and crack dealers and public order police erupted early that Saturday morning, climaxing in sorties that resulted in street bonfires made from burning street dwellers’ belongings. 

After the clashes an uneasy calm followed, with both sides on high alert. 

And although hopes were high that the dispute would peter out – with constant vigilance from community members and the dealers’ representative claiming that they tried and failed to initiate talks – the feeling was that strife was imminent.