South African Shanty Towns Similar to Apartheid Years

South African Shanty Towns Similar to Apartheid Years

A majority of the world’s population is now urban and the fastest growing cities are middle-sized, in the Third World. A large part of the new urban population is poor, living in shacks or run-down buildings, often illegally. In Durban, South Africa, apartheid’s attempts to restrict black people to marginal areas of the city have been followed by post-apartheid government’s failure to respond with adequate housing close to services and work opportunities. Durban’s poor, like their counterparts the world over, have responded by building housing for themselves where they need it. FSRN’s Mpumi Magwaza finds that like the apartheid state before it, the ANC government views these settlements as a nuisance.

Radio Interview online at: http://www.fsrn.org/news/20070514_news.html

It is also attached as an MP3 below.