Poor communities are being pushed to urban margins
Abahlali baseMjondolo says weak political will, exclusionary zoning and profit-driven development continue to push poor communities towards South Africa’s under-serviced urban peripheries.
The socialist shack dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, has slammed the South African government for neglecting the needs of the poor and marginalized, accusing it of lacking the political will to tackle land reform. The group argues that informal settlements and rural residents are merely political tools or "human waste," and are being pushed out of cities into under-served peripheral areas.
This mirrors the spatial segregation seen during apartheid. As South Africa prepares for local government elections on November 4, the impacts of historical segregation, slow municipal policy implementation, and poor urban planning are becoming more apparent. Spatial planning experts concur, stating that many local municipalities are still grappling with the severe spatial injustice born out of apartheid-era boundaries.
Despite years of democratic governance, post-apartheid spatial planning has struggled to overcome these entrenched geographic divisions.
Written by urgent.news from IOL's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
