The Cape Flats is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geographical area.
At least thirty-five languages are spoken in South Africa, twelve of which are official languages of South Africa: Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, South African Sign Language, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu and English, which is the primary language used in parliamentary and state discourse, though all official languages are equal in legal status. In addition, South African Sign Language was recognised as the twelfth official language of South Africa by the National Assembly on 3 May 2023. Unofficial languages are protected under the Constitution of South Africa, though few are mentioned by any name.
Khayelitsha is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for New Home. It is reputed to be one of the largest and fastest-growing townships in South Africa.
Langa is a township in Cape Town, South Africa. Its name in Xhosa means "sun". The township was initially built in phases before being formally opened in 1927. It was developed as a result of South Africa's 1923 Urban Areas Act, which was designed to force Africans to move from their homes into segregated locations. Similar to Nyanga, Langa is one of the many areas in South Africa that were designated for Black Africans before the apartheid era. It is the oldest of such suburbs in Cape Town and was the location of much resistance to apartheid.
Athlone is a suburb of Cape Town located to the east of the city centre on the Cape Flats, south of the N2 highway. Two of the suburb's main landmarks are Athlone Stadium and the decommissioned coal-burning Athlone Power Station. Athlone is mainly residential and is served by a railway station of the same name. It however includes industrial and commercial zones. There are many "sub-areas" within Athlone, including Gatesville, Rylands, Belgravia Estate, Bridgetown and Hazendal. Colloquially other areas around Athlone are also often included in the greater Athlone area even though the City of Cape Town might classify them as separate neighborhoods such as Rondebosch East, Crawford, and Manenberg.
Butterworth, also known as Gcuwa, is a town in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Butterworth has a population of 45,900 and is situated on the N2 national highway 111 km north of East London.
Pavement dwellers refers to informal housing built on the footpaths/pavements of city streets. The structures use the walls or fences which separate properties from the pavement and street outside. Materials include cloth, corrugated iron, cardboard, wood, plastic, and sometimes also bricks or cement.
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign was a non-racial popular movement made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa. It was formed in November 2000 with the aim of fighting evictions, water cut-offs and poor health services, obtaining free electricity, securing decent housing, and opposing police brutality.
Lindiwe Nonceba Sisulu is a South African politician. She was member of parliament from 1994 until 2023, and is a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress as of 2023. She previously served as Minister of Housing, as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Minister of Public Service and Administration, Minister of Human Settlements from, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation and Minister of Tourism.
Joe Slovo is an informal settlement in Langa, and in Milnerton Cape Town. Like many other informal settlements, it was named after former housing minister and anti-Apartheid activist, Joe Slovo. With over 2000,000 residents, Joe Slovo is one of the largest informal settlements in South Africa.
Symphony Way Informal Settlement was a small community of pavement dwellers that lived on Symphony Way, a main road in Delft, South Africa, from February 2008 until late 2009. They were a group of families that were evicted in February 2008 from the N2 Gateway Houses.
Citrusdal is a town of 5,000 people in the Olifants River Valley in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated at the base of the Cederberg mountains about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north of Cape Town. Agriculture in the area is dominated by citrus fruit farming, hence the town's name. Natural hot water springs occur in the area. It also has a high school named Cederberg Academy and a private school and two other primary schools and lots of creches.
The N2 Gateway Housing Pilot Project is a large housebuilding project under construction in Cape Town, South Africa. It has been labelled by the national government's former Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu as "the biggest housing project ever undertaken by any Government." Even though it is a joint endeavour by the National Department of Housing, the provincial government of the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town, a private company, Thubelisha, has been outsourced to find contractors, manage, and implement the entire project. Thubelisha estimates that some 25,000 units will be constructed, about 70% of which will be allocated to shack-dwellers, and 30% to backyard dwellers on the municipal housing waiting lists. Delft, 40 km outside of Cape Town, is the main site of the Project.
The N2 Gateway Occupations saw large numbers of government-built houses occupied illegally by local residents of Delft in the Western Cape during December, 2007. The houses in question were the new Breaking New Ground (BNG) houses in the Symphony section of Delft near the main road Symphony Way. This was the largest occupation of houses in South Africa's history.
Frank Martin is a former Democratic Alliance councillor for the 19th Ward in Cape Town which includes Blue Downs, Kuilsriver, Wesbank and a small eastern section of Delft.
Symphony Way Temporary Relocation Area in Delft, Cape Town, better known by its nickname Blikkiesdorp, is a relocation camp made-up of corrugated iron shacks. Blikkiesdorp, which is Afrikaans for "Tin Can Village", was given its name by residents because of the row-upon-row of tin-like one room structures throughout the settlement.
No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way is an anthology published in 2011 of 45 factual tales written and edited by the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers.
The Blikkiesdorp Project is officially titled People in Blikkies: An Insult to South Africa's Young Democracy, and refers to a social documentary effort featuring the Blikkiesdorp community in Delft, Cape Town. The project is in association with Uthango Social Investments and Eclipse PR. The settlement is officially recognized as Symphony Way Temporary Location Area. The project is led by South African photojournalist Lizane Louw, and was active between 2008 and May 2012. The subject of the photographs are the substandard living space and the socioeconomic challenges of the residents. Lizane's goal is to give the people of Blikkies a voice through the use of imagery and media presence attempt to spur change for this ineffective solution to Cape Town's eviction crisis. Since Lizane began her mission to capture the injustices of Blikkies, the settlement has grown almost 15 times larger, inflating from a population of 1600 to a count of 25000 in 2013, and now each structure houses between 5 and 15 people. The photos became the material of her first solo-exhibition which premiered in 2012. The photos are also a precursor to a documentary film that Lizane plans to shoot in 2014.
Thembalethu is a township in Western Cape, South Africa. The township is on the Garden Route and falls part of the George Municipality. The name of the township "Thembalethu" is Xhosa meaning "Our Hope".
Lotus River is a suburb of Cape Town in South Africa. Lotus River is found at an elevation of 11 metres above sea level.
