Informal Settlements

latest news & developments

High-risk areas are concentrated in townships and informal settlements, including Khayelitsha, Crossroads, Philippi and Gugulethu.

1.9 million Cape Town residents face high to very high air pollution risk, new UCT research reveals

More than 40% of Cape Town’s population is exposed to high or very high air pollution risk, according to a new UCT study that reveals sharp environmental inequalities across the…

Sheree Bega

In recent years, research Wright and colleagues led has highlighted how prolonged heat exposure places outdoor workers, children, older people and low-income communities at increased risk of dehydration, heat stress, respiratory illness and other adverse health outcomes. The risks are expected to intensify as temperatures continue to rise. (Envato Elements)

ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA

Extreme heat is becoming Southern Africa’s defining climate and health threat, report warns

Extreme heat is no longer a future problem. A major new report warns it is intensifying inequality, illness and climate vulnerability across Southern Africa and the worst-hit are…

Sheree Bega

South Africa may have attained political emancipation but economically the chains largely remain. (File photo)

Economic apartheid: South Africa’s transition a warning for a two-state agreement for Palestine

South Africa may have attained political emancipation but economically the chains largely remain

Sõzarn Barday

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero. (Lubabalo Lesolle/Gallo Images)

Joburg mayor hikes residential tariffs, backtracks on property tax increases

The ANC’s coalition partners demand changes, citing the financial burden on residents

Nkateko Joseph Mabasa

Toilets in townships and informal settlements need to be improved. Photo: David Harrison/M&G

New methods offer hope for sanitation in informal settlements

The groundbreaking sanitation technologies are specifically designed to address problems in these communities

Ednah Mamakoe

Photo byPer-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

BARNEY MOLOKOANE SECTION

Unequal spending shows that the City of Cape Town is not pro-poor

When the municipality allocates its budget, it spends proportionally far more on the rich than the poor areas

Axolile Notywala

Eskom announced on Monday that it was withdrawing services from Endlovini informal settlement in Khayelitsha after the security vehicle accompanying the power utility’s workers in the area was hijacked. (Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik)

Eskom withdraws from Cape Town informal settlement after second attack

On Monday, a security vehicle escorting the power utility’s workers into the area was hijacked

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Shacks in Tembisa, Gauteng. Photo by Delwyn Verasamy

The shifting landscape of South Africa’s informal settlements

As households increasingly build in bricks and mortar within informal settlements, the face of these communities is changing

Lyse Comins

Households in our rural areas and informal settlements, like the Jika Joe settlement near the Pietermaritzburg CBD on the banks of the Dorpspruit in KwaZulu-Natal, have the least infrastructure, the lowest levels of income, and the least resilience to shocks. Photo: Cameron Brisbane

CLIMATE ADAPTATION

OPINION | The hidden side of the KwaZulu-Natal floods

South Africa’s rural areas and informal settlements need the greatest protection against climate change

Cameron Brisbane

Trevor Ngwane looks into how committees in informal settlements are updating the system for their survival

ASSOCIATION OF MINEWORKERS AND CONSTRUCTION UNION

Book review: ‘Amakomiti’ tackles the role of self-governance

Can anything good come out emjondolo? Trevor Ngwane looks into how committees in informal settlements are updating the system for their survival

Lehlohonolo Shale

A man looks on as members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) K9 search and rescue unit searches for a missing 23 year old man in KwaNdengezi, west of Durban, on April 20, 2022. – South Africa’s government April 19, 2022 sought to reassure a worried public about efforts to help the east coast, where millions remained without water more than a week after deadly storms pounded the region. Some 10,000 troops were being deployed to assist, both with air support for search efforts and relief operations, but also with engineering, plumbing and electrical support to try to get basic services running. (GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP via Getty Images)

Durban’s future: Storms, intense and more frequent flooding

Climate projections show that the eThekwini metro will receive more rain by 2050 that could fall in brief periods

Sheree Bega

A general view of containers that fell over at a container storage facility following heavy rains and winds in Durban, on April 12, 2022. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP)

Flood-prone Durban ill-equipped to weather the climate crisis

The eThekwini metro’s climate action plan lacks urgency and the state remains wedded to fossil fuels, mining, high-energy refining and smelting

Mary Galvin
Patrick Bond

Lack of basic services: Empty buckets belonging to the residents of a sprawling informal settlement on the outskirts of Lawley, Johannesburg, are lined up waiting for a water truck to fill them up. (Marco Longari/AFP)

Get people involved in development

Service delivery is about improving people’s lives, not expedient election promises

Hloniphile Simelane

34 new political parties have been registered since the 2024 national and provincial elections.
(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Women’s voices fade after local government elections

Women make up just 37% of our elected representatives, and gains in representation are slowly being eroded. This should concern us all

Sikhander Coopoo

The municipality has accrued billions of rand in wasteful spending, and more than 6 000 putrid bucket toilets

The smelly and corrupt side of ‘dysfunctional’ Nelson Mandela Bay

The municipality has accrued billions of rand in wasteful spending, and more than 6 000 putrid bucket toilets

Khaya Koko
M&G Data Desk