Slum clearance in South Africa has been used as an urban renewal strategy to regenerate derelict or run-down districts, often to be replaced with alternative developments or new housing.
Slum clearance in South Africa has been used as an urban renewal strategy to regenerate derelict or run-down districts, often to be replaced with alternative developments or new housing.
In 1938, a significant scheme was initiated in Cape Town which involved the construction of around 12,000 houses at a cost of £6,000,000 ($30,000,000). The worst slum district, district VI, was part of the first phase which involved building the equivalent of a new town to house 31,000 people. [1] The city council was given permission by the Central Housing Board to include as many four-storey blocks of flats as it desired [2] and by 1942 was set to construct 13,000 dwellings as part of clearance projects. [3]
In the mid-1950s, the city of Johannesburg was reported to have the world's worst slums, [4] which, once considered too "squalid", would be taken over by city planners and involuntarily removed. [5] There were, however, ulterior motives for the targeting of Black townships; for instance, in the Western Areas of Johannesburg, removals were particularly motivated by widespread resistance within such Black communities against government authorities, indicated by four instances of popular unrest in six months from 1949 to 1950 [6] . Further, such removals were enabled and justified by the Group Areas Act. With regard to the clearance of the Western Areas, the city council agreed in 1952 to a government initiative titled "Site and Service", a slum clearance scheme whereby evicted families would be designated accommodation with a lavatory and a communal water supply. [4] This was, however, later dropped by the government [6] . Rather, for instance in Sophiatown, 2,000 armed police surrounded the area and 150 families at a time were given eviction notices with just 12 hours to leave. Families were subsequently forcibly relocated 12 miles beyond the city limits to Meadowlands and their former homes were demolished immediately after they vacated. Under Apartheid, the non-White families evicted were deemed unfit to reside in the city, yet were relocated close enough that they could still commute to work. [7] A program to deliver 30,000 homes, part of a wider slum clearance plan got underway in 1957. [8]
By the early 1970s, South Africa was well advanced into various major clearance projects. In Umlazi, just south of Durban, 20,000 new bungalows were laid out in a style reminiscent of California. The new properties were available for $10 monthly rent. [9] Similar housing projects, but on a considerably larger scale, were happening in Soweto. The country by this time had a wide ranging clearance program, with many remaining slums being prepared for demolition.
Reports in 1959 suggested that some slums vacated by native Africans, particularly in the city of Pretoria, were being subsequently populated by poor white families rather than being demolished. [10] In contrast, some districts of a predominant white population had been known to expand into a location previously reserved for natives. On some occasions, churches were a victim of this expansion, having initially been built cheaply or at no cost and therefore not being entitled to much if any compensation, yet to reconstruct it in a new location "may cost several hundred times as much as the compensation received for the old", due to municipal laws requiring formal planning on new building construction. [11]
Soweto is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg.
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inhabited by impoverished people. Although slums are usually located in urban areas, in some countries they can be located in suburban areas where housing quality is low and living conditions are poor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, law enforcement, and other basic services. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings which, because of poor-quality construction or lack of basic maintenance, have deteriorated.
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighted areas in inner cities to clear out slums and create opportunities for higher class housing, businesses, and other developments.
In South Africa, the terms township and location usually refer to the often underdeveloped racially segregated urban areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of apartheid, were reserved for non-whites, namely Black Africans, Coloureds and Indians. Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities. The term township also has a distinct legal meaning in South Africa's system of land title, which carries no racial connotations.
Johannesburg is a large city in Gauteng Province of South Africa. It was established as a small village controlled by a Health Committee in 1886 with the discovery of an outcrop of a gold reef on the farm Langlaagte. The population of the city grew rapidly, becoming a municipality in 1898. In 1928 it became a city making Johannesburg the largest city in South Africa. In 2002 it joined ten other municipalities to form the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Today, it is a centre for learning and entertainment for all of South Africa. It is also the capital city of Gauteng.
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; for example slum clearance plans were required in the United Kingdom in the Housing Act 1930, while the Housing Act of 1937 encouraged similar clearance strategies in the United States. Frequently, but not always, these programs were paired with public housing or other assistance programs for the displaced communities.
Sophiatown, also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid, It produced some of South Africa's most famous writers, musicians, politicians and artists. Rebuilt under the name of Triomf, and in 2006 officially returned to its original name. Sophiatown was one of the oldest black areas in Johannesburg and its destruction represents some of the excesses of South Africa under apartheid.
Meadowlands is a suburb of Soweto, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It was founded in the early 1950s during the apartheid era for black residents from Sophiatown.
Urban decay is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban decay which is why it can be hard to encapsulate its magnitude.
Pageview is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Populated by non-whites, predominantly Indians, until the 1970s, it was one of two adjacent suburbs commonly known as Fietas.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is a municipal authority providing Public housing services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Natives Resettlement Act, Act No 19 of 1954, formed part of the apartheid system of racial segregation in South Africa. It permitted the removal of blacks from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg by the South African government. This act was designed to remove blacks from Sophiatown to Meadowlands.
Vrededorp is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Vrededorp is situated on the North-Western side of Johannesburg and is 1,764 m (5,788 ft) above sea level.
Rooftop slum or penthouse slum generally refers to illegal housing on the rooftops of apartment buildings. In Hong Kong, some people are unable to afford traditional apartments and are forced to wait years for affordable public housing. They therefore live in squatted shacks on top of buildings. According to the Hong Kong population census, there were 47,091 rooftop dwellers in 2011 and this number is likely to have dropped as working class areas are redeveloped.
Emma Mashinini was a South African trade unionist and political leader. Living in Johannesburg, her family was forcibly displaced several times during her childhood. She started working at age 14 and soon became a union organiser at her garment factory. She became active with the African National Congress (ANC) in 1956. Mashinini served for 12 years on the executive board of the National Union of Clothing Workers (NUCW) and founded the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) in 1975. She was arrested and detained without charges for six months in 1981–82.
Dr. Xuma's house was one of two houses to escape the destruction of Sophiatown, South Africa by the government in the late 1950s, it is also a landmark which belonged to Dr Alfred Bitini Xuma who was a medical doctor and the President of the African National Congress (ANC) and Chairperson of the Western Areas Anti-Expropriation and Proper Housing Committee. Construction of the house was completed in 1935 and named Empilweni which roughly translates to "the place of life". Xuma and his second wife Madie Hall Xuma lived there until his own property was expropriated when Sophiatown was declared a White area in terms of the Native Resettlement Act of 1954, and he had vacated it by 1957.
Slum clearance in the United Kingdom has been used as an urban renewal strategy to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. Early mass clearances took place in the country's northern cities. Starting from 1930, councils were expected to prepare plans to clear slum dwellings, although progress stalled upon the onset of World War II.
Slum clearance in India is used as an urban renewal approach to redevelop and transform poor and low income settlements into new developments or housing. Millions of people live in slum dwellings across India and many migrate to live in the slums from rural villages, often in search of work opportunities. Houses are typically built by the slum dwellers themselves and violence has been known to occur when developers attempt to clear the land of slum dwellings.
Slum clearance in the United States has been used as an urban renewal strategy to regenerate derelict or run-down districts, often to be replaced with alternative developments or new housing. Early calls were made during the 19th century, although mass clearance did not occur until after World War II with the introduction of the Housing Act of 1949 which offered federal subsidies towards redevelopments. The scheme ended in 1974 having driven over 2000 projects with costs in excess of $50 billion.
Land invasion in South Africa is seen as the illegal occupation of land with the intention of erecting dwellings or establishing a settlement on it and is an issue that is affecting various municipalities in South Africa especially in the face of increased urbanisation in bigger metropolitans like The City of Cape Town, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.