Rehana Rossouw and Ann Eveleth
THE civil war in KwaZulu-Natal has created a destitute class of people who have converted pavements in the centre of Durban into an informal camp site.
Most of the single mothers and children who have turned the crannies of the city into their home are refugees — over the decade, 600 000 have fled from political violence in the province’s rural hinterland.
Durban’s deputy medical officer for health, Greg Munro, says it is impossible to estimate the number of homeless in the city as no proper surveys have been done. The number of street children could be as high as 3 000, he
Crossroads and KTC squatter camps near the airport remain an unsightly welcome for visitors to Cape Town, but the city has escaped the CBD travails of Durban and Cape Town.
The flow of migrants into Cape Town is not as heavy as the streams going into the country’s other major cities, and this has given planners some breathing space.
“Major initiatives like Marconi Beam near Milnerton where formal housing is now being built for squatters has gone a long way to reduce the steam in the pressure for new accommodation in Cape Town,” says Colin Appleton, coordinator of the Serviced Land
“It is basically a supply and demand issue. Unless we manage to keep pace with planning and service delivery, we are not yet in a position to pat ourselves on the back but we have a reasonable chance of keeping ahead in the game.”
Most new arrivals are relatives and friends of existing friends and prefer to erect their makeshift homes in the existing shantytowns, say planners. So while Crossroads and Khayelitsha grow apace, public parks, city pavements and vacant lots remain unaffected.