THE AIR SMELLS LIKE DEATH

IT’S hard not to gag at the foul smell that hangs in the air. It’s the stench of death, say the residents who live near the town’s new crematorium – and it’s constant and unforgiving. The air reeks of burnt hair and nails and rotting flesh. And the residents of Despatch in the Eastern Cape have had enough. It’s been weeks since Christolene Fleurs has been able to stomach eating in the morning.

“I go to work on an empty stomach because you can’t eat breakfast with that putrid smell in your nostrils,” Christolene, from Reservoir Hills, tells YOU. “The stench is bad, but it’s worse knowing that it’s the smell of dead people hanging around you.”