eThekwini municipality show a variety of characteristics of the study area. They show that the Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu (INK) zone or area is a predominantly residential area located within the eThekwini municipality 20km North West of Durban’s Central Business District (CBD) (eThekwini Municipality, 2013. The INK is characterised by poverty with low rates of formal/stabilised economic activities, and it experiences common challenges within these three different areas such as a lack of employment opportunities, social conflict, crime, violence, informality, a housing backlog, etc. The INK area has residential nodes consisting of leaning areas and is one of the five areas with Area Based Management (ABM) and an urban renewal programme (URP). The area experiences a constant struggle with social and economic growth due to its lack of internal resources and thus needs to depend heavily on external areas (mainly within Durban) for resources for production and social stability.
The Inanda area is the oldest township of the three; it was established in the 1800s as a designated African people’s settlement (reserve) by the white regime. Ntuzuma was a planned African township with formal residential areas occupying the majority of the area;
constructed in 1970. It was troubled by political strife in the 1980s concerned with tenure arrangements and the lack of service delivery. The KwaMashu Township is just like the other townships within the INK, and it is bigger in comparison to the other two. It was established for the purpose of accommodating African people removed from other areas such as Cato Manor (see figure 4.1 below). It comprises predominantly of formal housing and is considered to be an economic hub due to its economic activities within and outside of the major transportation corridors in the area.
The INK area is close to other commercial and industrial suburban areas (La Lucia, Springfield and Umhlanga) (Meyer et al, 2003). The area’s transportation system consists of bus routes, taxi routes and rail stations, mainly located in KwaMashu, and these serve as the
106 main transportation hub, 20km from the CBD, for the neighbourhood’s development programme (NDPG) for the eThekwini and KwaMashu hub, according to the eThekwini Municipality (2015) (see figure: 4.2 below).
Figure: 4.1: KwaMashu township within the eThekwini municipality Source: eThekwini Municipality (2013)
107 Figure: 4.2. KwaMashu Township eThekwini’s NDPG urban network plan
Source: eThekwini Municipality (2017).
Figure: 4.2 show the location of the economic zones within KwaMashu and their connectivity. The modes of transportation used by the public are vehicles to school, work and for local movement, and to and from the CBD. Thirty per cent of the INK community commute to the city via taxis, buses and minibuses, and the remaining 70 per cent use rail transport for this purpose (ITRUMP and eThekwini Municipality, 2015). Although KwaMashu is an area that is well connected to the city by taxi’s and buses via the KwaMashu highway, and trains via the railway, the travel costs are high, creating financial constraints for the commuters. The INK area is largely a residential area but it has shortages of land as the
108 area contains hilly terrain, with a low density of housing in these hilly areas. The housing is comprised as follows: 52 per cent is formal housing; traditional housing covers 5 per cent of the area and 43 per cent is informal housing in the form of shacks. Land is a scare commodity in the area in general, and there are still some large tracts of land which are undeveloped within Inanda and KwaMashu and on the outskirts of these townships.
KwaMashu was established in 1958 and came into being following the mass forceful resettlement of the slum population of Cato Manor (Patel, 1995). It was one of the first townships in Durban that emerged with the implementation of the Group Areas Act of the apartheid period in the 1950s. The Act was meant to physically separate different races that had lived in places such as Sophia Town, District Six and Cato Manor. With the Act in place and the forceful movements of people to these areas, KwaMashu became home to many African people who had been displaced.
The rapid population growth within the eThekwini municipality in the 1950s created pressure on the Durban City Council (DCC) to reduce slums as a means of increasing security for White populated areas and to segregate urban areas (Krige, 1985). The solution put forward by the apartheid system was to implement housing projects for the African population within the city, thus in 1952 Cato Manor’s emergency camps were erected on a site and service basis (Maylam, 1995). The building of KwaMashu Township followed a long phase of planning and negotiations, and land was bought to accommodate African residency.
Strategies and developmental approaches for the township had to be presented to the central government by the DCC for authorisation.
The DCC was responsible for both the removal of people of colour from their former residential areas to townships and for the construction of buffer zones between the African, Indian, Coloured and White terrains. The DCC established inconsistent linkage or connectivity of the transport routes between these different areas to help establish the buffer zones. KwaMashu Township’s development was approved in 1956 by the different parties involved and the price was the displacement of African people to the north of the city. The township’s plans were presented and approved by the Cato Manor Native Advisory Board.
People who were not recognised as residents of Cato Manor were not allowed to participate in the decision making process for the formulation of policy or planning of the township assigned to them. Development occurred in the late 1950s and the movement of people was implemented (Manson, 1980).
109 The KwaMashu development was established in different phases and houses were erected that were to be utilised by Black people in 1960 (Martin, 1995). The population in the area of KwaMashu increased rapidly to 40 000 people by the year 1962, and the population increase continued even more rapidly when people from other cities were removed from their former locations and placed there. In 1973 the KwaMashu area was controlled by the Port Natal Bantu Affairs Administration Board (Manson, 1980). The process of relocation from the cities to areas further away from the cities caused many difficulties for people of colour. These people faced increased travelling costs and this impacted negatively on those who commuted to work. Accommodations near the city were also very costly and this increased the cost of living for some. During the process of re-planning the city there were many Blacks who disappeared, and they were estimated to comprise about 20 per cent of the population of Cato Manor.
4.2.1. KwaMashu’s location
South Africa has approximately 52-56 million people living in it, and is a country with nine states/provinces (Statistics SA, 2017). There are a variety of established settlement areas such as townships in the country, and variations of the different racial groups are concentrated in different townships and in different parts of townships, although, the majority of the people living in townships are Black African people. The population of KwaMashu consists of about 98 per cent (175663) of Back African citizens, which is more than the average national concentration of this population group in one area. The national concentration is usually approximately 80 per cent, whilst the Indian/Asian concentration is usually 0.83 per cent, Coloureds usually 0.17 per cent and White people 0.08 per cent in an area (Statistics SA, 2017). KwaMashu Township is a residential development 20km north of Durban, within the INK boundaries. It is boarded on the south and west by Newlands East and West, and on the north it’s bordered by Ntuzuma. It is within close proximity to Durban North, Mount Edgecombe, Phoenix and Inanda (see figure: 4.3).
110 Figure 4.3: KwaMashu location and surrounding areas
Source: Google Maps (2018).
The area is 21km squared, largely covered by residential housing, and has a small portion of land dedicated to economic activities - ‘the market’, known to the locals as the ‘Station’
(eThekwini Municipality, 2016). The area is dominated by male figures who work in industries and different companies. Women usually tend to go and sell in the market area.
The KwaMashu Township is amongst the largest township developments within the eThekwini municipality’s boundary, according to the eThekwini Municipality. Divided into more than ten suburbs widely known as ‘sections’ (KwaMashu A; B; C; D; E etc.), KwaMashu is managed via a single administrative unit under the INK Nodal economic development project (Molefe, 2009). KwaMashu is characterised by various economic activities, which include large and small retailers. The relationship between the informal and formal sectors is influenced by a perspective of structuralism. This perspective speaks to the idea that new nodes within shopping areas have the potential to displace or promote small scale retail sectors, and may positively or negatively affect the informal way of socio- economic stability.
111 The area is considered to be a prominent administrative economic hub on the north side of Durban. The caring capacity in terms of population is estimated at 173 568 citizens, according to the 2011 census. KwaMashu is known as an area with a ‘lively performing arts scene’. This is due to the fact that the area is filled with young people aided by the skills, resources and significant support from various organisations. The area is dominated by the spirit of music, dance, drama (with Uzalo, a South African series/soapy filmed at KwaMashu), a community radio station called Vibe 94.70 FM, and sports, most significantly football. KwaMashu is identified as one of the most well preserved townships within the eThekwini municipality (eThekwini Municipality, 2016).