5.1 HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
5.1.1 Regional and Local Dynamics
The Msunduzi Municipality commonly known as Pietermaritzburg or the “City of Choice” is located along the N3 at a junction of an industrial corridor eighty kilometres inland from Durban on the major road route between the busiest harbour in Africa (Durban), and the national economic powerhouses of Johannesburg and Pretoria. The municipality covers an area of six hundred and thirty five square kilometres with an estimated population of 618,533 people. As highlighted in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Spatial Development Framework (SDF) of 2015, the city of Pietermaritzburg is located within the Msunduzi Local Municipal Area. It is the second largest city after eThekwini and is the provincial capital city of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZ-N) Province. The confirmation of the capital status has not only entrenched its role and position as the administrative and legislative centre of the provincial government since it also performs important commercial and industrial functions in the economy of the District and the Province.
The Provincial Spatial Economic Development Strategy (2006) identifies the city as contributing to the economy in terms of industrial, tourism and agricultural development.
Graph 1: Msunduzi Gross Value Added Contribution
Source: Quantec, 2012
Msunduzi’s contributions to the District economic output (measured in terms of Gross Value Added- 71%) is graphically illustrated in Graph 1. This confirms the dominant role of Msunduzi in terms of the uMgungundlovu District economy and population, which constitutes 61%. The District contribution to the economy of KZ-N in 2011 totalled R32.162 billion. This is 8.7% of the R279 billion that constitutes the provincial economy. The N3 corridor links the city with a number of key intra -provincial and inter- provincial transport routes, which includes the Midlands and Eastern Cape link via Bulwer, Underberg and Kokstad; the Midlands and north coast via Wartburg and Greytown; the Midlands and the Eastern Cape via Richmond and Ixopo (See Map 10). The city has functioned as an urban centre providing a wide range of services to the adjacent towns and villages of Howick, Mooi River, Impendle, New Hanover, Camperdown and Richmond. It serves as a gateway city to the surrounding tourist destinations. The city and surrounds are a prime tourist attraction that offers economic opportunities and investment returns.
Therefore, Msunduzi’s location has a strong influence on regional channels of assets development, movement and the structuring of the provincial spatial framework for growth and development. Its
Msunduzi’s Spatial Development Framework (SDF, 2015) has stated that the spatial structure of Pietermaritzburg that emerged over a period of one hundred and fifty years. Like other urban areas in KwaZulu-Natal, colonial and Apartheid settlement policies have influenced the city.
5.1.2.1 Pre 1994 History
Wills (1988) pointed out that as early as the Voortrekker period in 1838, the city structure was being shaped where a spur bounded by the Dorpspruit and the Umzinduzi Rivers called the Bosmansrand was chosen as a site for settlement. The town was officially named Pieter Mauritz in 1839. It started with one main street with the church as the central focus. The settlement was developed and laid out on sloping ground so that water could be diverted from the Dorpspruit for other uses. The original layout plan for the city led to the development of the grid-iron street pattern laid out in an East /West and North /South grid-pattern. The British left the grid-iron pattern intact and created additional pedestrian lanes, which is still evident in the current structure of the city (see Maps 11 and 12). The spatial legacy of Apartheid has also sculptured the spatial distribution of people in and around the city. During the 1850’s, development was concentrated mainly in the central grid which together with the surrounding townlands made up the Borough of Pietermaritzburg; a market square, administrative precinct, military and commercial uses made up the structure of the colonial town.
Map 12and Map 13: The Grid Layout and Model Apartheid City Structure of Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg)
Source: Trevor Wills in Laband and Haswell, 1988
In 1950, the government’s Group Areas Act changed the social geography of the city. The Act enforced the segregation of the different race groups to specific areas within the city. Whilst the White population occupied the central core, the Black population where expelled to the outskirts of the city with the majority located in townships on the periphery. However, over a period of time the White population moved into the suburbs however, job opportunities remained concentrated in the Central Business District with industrial development in close proximity. In some instances, industries located in close proximity to residential areas to capture the immediate workforce. The Msunduzi SDF 2015 emphasized that much of this spatial context and historical patterns persist today with the marginalised communities located far from economic, social and recreational opportunities.as depicted graphically in Map 12 above. Moreover, the city’s radial structure is focused on the CBD, which is the main economic hub with low levels of connectivity between the peripheral areas.
Consequently, the city structure has created islands of spatial affluence, and a distorted fragmented inefficient settlement pattern that has excluded certain race groups from social, economic and recreational opportunities. Furthermore, the existing spatial pattern and corridors are composed of predominantly residential land use activities structured along transportation routes, which radiate outwardly from the central area. As a result, the entire population is dependent on the CBD for social and economic services. Therefore, in order to reach the objective where activities and facilities are closer to the people, it is important that the spatial organisation shifts away from the existing radial form towards a more accessible system that facilitates convenient access and movement within the city.
The need to create a new spatial form and structure for the settlements to improve their performance that will counteract the low density, sprawling, fragmented and a largely mono-functional settlement form that resulted under the apartheid system and to reverse and improve access to a range of services, resources, facilities and amenities for all its citizens is essential.
The Msunduzi’s Spatial Development Framework (SDF), 2015 underscored that history has significantly shaped the city, which is evident by the Apartheid city model that is still manifest over twenty years after achieving democracy. Linked to this is the clear disparity of wealth, employment opportunities, plot sizes, levels of neighbourhood planning and access to basic services, which needs to be corrected in the peripheral areas that are located in the west, east and south-west of the CBD. Msunduzi epitomises a typical Apartheid town in the sense that it embodies most if not all the attributes. Therefore, in order to understand the challenges associated with the current city and the planning and development interventions required, one needs to take cognisance of how the current municipal boundaries came about. The SDF 2005 indicated that Msunduzi consisted of three former district areas namely the
Borough of Pietermaritzburg, Greater Edendale and the Vulindlela Tribal areas each with a population of approximately 200, 000 people.