As a white person, it is unwise to go into the shanties without a guide. For most families here, this not an achievable goal any time soon. Three twin beds in a single room, windows without glass, exposed wires and heaps of garbage outside. As I sat in the front seat of her white Mercedes driving north, she started explaining all that we would see. Affluent blacks, whites and coloreds do mix in the higher income parts of the city, as well as in the workplace and in politics. This is my job. SDI is a network of community-based organizations of the urban poor in 32 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Khayelitsha is now the biggest of these and the community had a population explosion after apartheid ended and blacks rushed into Cape Town for jobs. ‘NEW HOME’ Our Cape Town township guide reminded us that our money went towards the community. This map depicts an area some 40 miles across. While the ending of the Apartheid was supposed to make life for black Africans in South Africa better, but in places of the South Africa slums of Western Cape where Cape Town gangs roam in impoverish communities of the Cape Flats that is not the case. Plastic garbage. While the lower limit 10 − 3 km 2 corresponds approximately to the size of a penalty area in a soccer field, the upper limit 10 − 1 km 2 is in the order of 10 soccer fields. The sloped landscape of Freetown also provides a clue as to why so much rubbish ends up in coastal slums. At first, Laura was trying to figure out what we could handle. What characterizes any metropolis in South Africa is this shantytown slum situation on the outskirts of the city. We are a digital magazine for entertainment, we are not here to diagnose or treat any health or medical conditions. Part 5 of my South Africa series. Both Cape Town and Mumbai are aspiring world class cities filled with beautiful skyscrapers and good amenities but they also share the burden of rapid and often problematic urbanisation. Ramadan Cash Store.jpg. The exchange between South African and LAC experts, will focus on the Kosovo Upgrading Project, located in Cape Town, South Africa. Many agencies support facilities and programs in the slums they bring tours to. Beds are made and the floor is swept. It’s not derogatory. Many settlements in South Africa are still visibly divided into wealthy and poor areas. In order to be considered a “worker” by a bank, a family must make ten times that a month. The main issue of informal settlements is the lack of human rights. By 2030, it’s estimated that it 1 in 4 people on the planet will live in a slum or other informal settlement. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/21/only-we-can-change-things-life-in-gang-ridden-other-side-cape-town, https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/gangsters-are-fighting-back-but-they-will-not-win-vows-fritz-as-army-keeps-watch-20190727. This is the second session of the South Africa - Latin America series on Slum Upgrading, in the context of Covid-19. The Apartheid built communities of the Cape Flats have become havens for crime and other activities as a journey through the neighborhoods of the South Africa slum will show people with very little resources while living in extreme poverty. The Guardian, 21 October 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/21/only-we-can-change-things-life-in-gang-ridden-other-side-cape-town. With the country having around 29% of its citizens unemployed and a poverty rate of 55%, as of 2015, despite a slowly growing economy that is based around tourism and natural resources, like platinum and gold, South Africa gangs activity does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. She grew up in the townships (slums) and was lucky enough to get a scholarship for a university education. This is a list of slums in South Africa, grouped by nearby city. Her knowledge of her country, it’s complexities, issues and histories were out of this world. Environmental catastrophes are created by humans and require solutions that have a positive effect on human quality of life. Over the past decade, the number of slum dwellers in South Africa has increased by a record 55 percent. Part Two – Christmas in a squatter’s camp. The heart of the South Africa gangs activity is in the Cape Flats, a large area that has built a reputation of dangerous neighborhoods like: With the communities that were just name, which only represent a percentage of the dangerous areas of western Cape Town, there has been an uproar from the civilians who are tired of Cape Town gangs infiltrating their communities. Cite-Soleil, Port au Prince, Haiti. Now, how substantial this was, I don’t know but one thing that stood out for me was how few formal businesses there were within the townships. For 350 rand, about $50 US, she agreed to show us around the townships. Living in an informal settlement can have major issues on a population and their resilience to survive. Our NGO quantifies plastic density in the oceanic gyres, but because all would-be plastic patches are land born, we study garbage wherever we can. In Cape Town, 80% of inhabitants live in townships strongly affected by crime and more specifically by drug trafficking. The Slums of Cape Town: Part 1 December 23, 2010 by Stiv Wilson. In Cite-Soleil, criminal gangs outgun the … Findings from Cape Town 22/03/2016 Academic publication Cape Town , ethics , poverty tourism , responsible tourism , slum tourism , South Africa , townships Ko Koens The development of small tourism businesses has been seen by policy-makers as a valuable means of alleviating poverty in South African townships. University of Minnesota Press, 2014. Criminals create rival gangs and their conflicts concern the public. Depending on the informal settlement, the country and the circumstances, these informal settlements carry major social, political and cultural issues.. Some information might not be current and/or 100% accurate. Longmarket Street Slum - Cape Town Cape Colony 1875 - UCT MacMillan.jpg. But what’s dominant here, beyond the plastic garbage and dirt, are the smiles of children – something that is beautiful anywhere in the world. Cape Flats gangs activity of Western Cape, the large South African city of Cape Town, has helped the community to become labeled as one of the most dangerous places in the world. Know Your City: SDI's Community Driven Data on Slums. Over a third of Cape Town’s population live in slums or informal settlements. Thompson, Ginger. Aerial view of the Cape Town slums located in Western Cape, known as the Cape Flats. This made Cape Town one of the most populated cities in South Africa and Khayelitsha one of the most populated slums. New Ermelo-woonbuurt, Ermelo, Mpumalanga, b.jpg. This is how she makes a living. Unlike the compressed tiny shack communities of the Cape Flats, in the South Africa slums of Johannesburg the people mainly reside in high rise apartment buildings, especially in Hillbrow and Berea, the home of Ponte City, a former high rise public housing complex that was infamous during its existence. In the neighboring community of Yeoville, some streets may resemblance the city of Detroit or other impoverish communities of the United States. (S. Honorine VOA).jpg. In Cape Town, these were often started at District Six, an area where over 60,000 colored people were forcibly evicted in the 70s and the District Six Museum, which chronicles those acts. To begin this week’s final post on South Africa, let’s consider this satellite image of most of metropolitan Cape Town, population roughly 2.9 million. Many of the the coloreds are of Malaysian slave descent and comprise the Muslim community and some of their communities are within a stones throw of the shanty towns, though the two cultures rarely, if ever, mix in the townships. Thereafter, itineraries would differentiate, venturing into various other townships such as Gugulethu and Khayelitsha, the two largest in the Cape Town region. With the removement, many lost structure, foundation, their culture, and stability as the disenfranchisement led to poverty and a lack of resources, which almost always leads to crime as gangs replace the former family structure. 'Slum' Issues. Due to the magnitude of theproblem, city authorities have put in place a special police service: Metropolitan Police. To summarize, the Apartheid truly changed the makeup of the South African communities. Voyage with Stiv and catch the exclusive each week here at EcoSalon during his months-long journey into the heart of the South Atlantic Gyre and beyond. Langa was our first township. Editorial Credit: meunierd / Shutterstock.com. 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When I arrive in a new country, I’m keen to investigate waste management infrastructure because I believe, as does our organization, that pollution is a symptom of poverty and poverty is a symptom of pollution. Still, the poverty is pervasive and most here subsist on 500 rands a month ($70) or less. Gangs in South Africa can be dated back to the early 1900s, but around the time of the 1970s is when modern day Cape Town gangs, and gangs in other South African cities, have truly developed, starting from the prisons and widely expanding into the streets of the slum neighborhoods. Eleven different languages are spoken in South Africa, and the population is composed of African blacks, whites and “colored.” Colored has a different meaning here – it denotes being of non African descent and of mixed race. “Only we can change things’: life in the gang-ridden other side of Cape Town”. Her presence commands respect and she has an exceptional power and charm that exudes from her being. Let’s take a tour of the world’s biggest slums:Khayelitsha in Cape Town (South Africa): 400,000.Kibera in Nairobi (Kenya): 700,000.Dharavi in Mumbai (India): 1,000,000.Neza (Mexico): 1,200,000.Orangi Town in Karachi (Pakistan): 2,400,000.. Is there slums in China? But now, there are legal consequences for such actions, an improvement made from having women in political power. Slum tourism is a type of tourism that involves visiting areas of poverty such as in developing African countries like Kenya and Uganda. News24, 27 July 2019. https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/gangsters-are-fighting-back-but-they-will-not-win-vows-fritz-as-army-keeps-watch-20190727. We met Laura outside of a ritzy shopping center in the money part of Cape Town. In recent years, the government has stepped up efforts with military patrols in dangerous neighborhoods, the passing of gang laws, or setting up programs and organizations to help stop the problems of the communities. This has led to government officials to step in, mainly sending in troops to combat the local gang problems.