Chapter One: Introduction to Study and Methodology
1.14 Urbanisation in Durban
Despite the accolades the city of Durban has received, the force of urbanisation has taken its toll on the city. In comparison to the size of supercities32 and supergiant cities33, Durban seems unimpressive and uninspiring for a discussion regarding urbanisation or the city. Yet, this city is the location of an amazing urban feat. The Urban Foundation34 records that during the period between 1970 and 1980 Durban recorded the highest population growth in the world. The record growth was 100 %. The city with the second highest growth rate was the Nigerian city of Lagos at 93, 7% (in De Beer 1998: 30).
Durban is still considered to be one of the fastest growing cities in the world (1998:52) and is considered one of South Africa's principal cities, overtaking Cape Town as the second largest city in South Africa. The population of the Durban metropole is presently recorded at just over three million people35. This figure places the city in the "megacity" (a city with a population of over one million) category. The Durban metropole or the eThekweni Municipality as it is now called, occupies 1.4% of the total area of the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, yet it is home to over 1/3rd of the population of the province36.
The speed of urbanisation in Durban has led to immense population pressure37. The city cannot cope with the demands to provide housing, employment and basic public utilities and as a result of this, many first generation urban dwellers live in slum conditions, squatter settlements or on the street. Despite migrating to the city to seek an improved life, many accumulate a series of handicaps owing to the city's inability to meet even the basic needs of the poor.
A supercity has a population of over four million people. See Greenway & Monsma (1989:xiii)
33 A supergiant city has a population of over ten million inhabitants (Greenway & Monsma 1989:xiii)
34 In De Beer (1998: 30).
35 According to the census of 2001, there are 3,090,117 people and 786,745 households residing in Durban.
36 See www.durban.gov.za/ethekwini/business/overview.
37 See Population: Pressure, Durban, South Africa.
www.ceroi.net/reports/durban/drivers/population/pressure.
Durban, like many cities across the world, has numerous challenges to contend with. However, in the case of Durban, I believe the following challenges deserve special mention owing to their overarching impact.
1.14.1 HIV/AIDS in Durban and South Africa
28% of South Africans have been affected by HIV/AIDS, while 13% of all the people in the world living with HIV/AIDS can be found in South Africa. (The UN AIDS estimates that at the end of 2003, 5.3 million people were living with AIDS i.e. 21.5% of the population.) South Africans spend more time at funerals than they do having their hair cut, shopping or having "braais", according to a survey published in March 200438.
Leeman39 describes the AIDS figures as being "worse than [those of the]
holocaust": if the shocking statistics at only one Durban hospital, King Edward VIII, are being replicated across the country, then he believes the AIDS epidemic in S.A. is even worse than any holocaust.
According to Irusen40, during the period 1994-2000 over 70%41 of all deaths in medical wards were AIDS related. The ever-increasing number of people dying of HIV/AIDS has led to a shortage of burial sites. Of the 22 eThekwini Municipality cemeteries, eighteen are filled to capacity and two would have been filled by the end of 200442. At the National Cemeteries and Crematories Conference, held in Durban in mid 200443, the crisis of declining burial space in the Durban metropole was discussed. The citizens of Durban are encouraged to consider other methods of "disposing of the remains of the deceased".
www.Avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm
39 http://new.hst.orq.za/news/ideas Daily News 21/09/01
40 Of the Nelson Mandela medical school at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal's department of medicine in Durban.
41 This figure peaked at 79% in 1995, and has remained over 70%.
42 Cremation creates cultural tension.
43 See "Down under" Vivian Attwood in "Metrobeaf March (2005: 24 - 25) Issue 74. See also
"The furnace or the grave" by Ayanda Mhlongo Daily News July 1 (2004:10).
1.14.2 Inner-city deterioration
Durban experiences the same problems as those of cities all over the world:
mainly a decrease in economic viability and an increase in crime and adverse conditions. For example, in Durban, a large number of businesses have relocated to the northern suburbs, especially the La Lucia Ridge and Umhlanga business districts44. The economy of the city is largely affected by this move and as top businesses move out of the inner city, squalor and deterioration move in.
Durban's infamous Pickering Street/ Point Road45 area is the most apt example of city decay and can be referred to as part of Durban's zone of decay. In this zone there is a visible deterioration of the city as the slumlords, escort agencies/brothels, and drug dens fester in hazardous health conditions. Durban is a crime hot spot where crime statistics soared during 1998 when 170 000 crimes were reported in the Durban region, after a consistent decline since 1995 when the number of reported crimes rose by 12% in 199846. The following information on crime is contained in a newsletter of the Durban city manager47;
[0]ur main worries are the increases in murder and aggravated robbery. Murder increased by 15 to stand at 2136 in 2006-7, whilst aggravated robbery in 2006-7 was 17123, an increase of 1274. The subcategories of aggravated robbery that showed increases were Carjacking, Truck hijacking, Robbery at residential premises, Robbery at business premises, Robbery of cash in transit, and Bank robbery.
And the following business related crimes increased: Robbery at business premises + 381, Burglary at business premises + 583, Commercial crime + 1247. Interestingly, shoplifting decreased by 66 incidents to reach 4975. Crime is clearly becoming more violent and more organized and these statistics show that we have much to do before we can call ourselves a safe city and nation.
44 Daily News (2001: 8)
45 Daily News (2005:3) - See appendix B p.281
46 See http://www.ceroi.net/reports/durban/issues/crime/index.htm for the state of crime in Durban. These statistics are often fiercely rejected by the public as unreliable and marginal.
47See http://www.durban.qov.za/durban/government/munadmin/media/cmn/cmnitem.2007-07- 25.8513975687