The Economist

April 8, 2006
U.S. Edition
The view from the shacks

Miserable but not quite hopeless

A GOOD place to view South Africa's economic development from another angle is the Foreman Road shantytown in the middle of Durban. Here, perhaps a thousand makeshift shacks, thrown together with whatever came to hand—pieces of wood, corrugated iron, bits of cardboard—cling precariously to the muddy side of a steep hill. They are home to 7,000 people.