Responses to the Informal Settlement in Hout Bay

Responses to the Informal Settlement in Hout Bay, South Africa

The area of Hout Bay has followed a very similar path to Monwabisi Park, but also has some distinct differences. Hout Bay is split into three main segments: the predominantly white upper class, the “lower- income coloured residents, who reside in hostels and flats, and middle-income coloured and white residents” (Oelofse & Dodson, 1997), and finally the residents of Mizamoyethu.

Figure 1: Map of Informal Settlements in Hout Bay (Oelofse & Dodson, 1997)

As the apartheid era came to a close, many people came and settled illegally on the land around Hout Bay looking for new economic opportunity. Since the government’s policy about illegal housing was “challenged and was thus unclear” (Oelofse & Dodson, 1997), the government decided that something had to be done. As forced removal of people from their homes would cause more problems than it would solve, the government had to investigate other possible solutions. In fact, the land invasion happened so rapidly that by 1990, “there were approximately 2000 squatters living in five settlements around Hout Bay” (Oelofse & Dodson, 1997). Figure 1 shows how large the settlement of Hout Bay has grown due to this land invasion. In addition to this, the residents who had been living in the area since before the land invasion had become concerned with the large number of people illegally living so nearby. They said that health conditions would only get worse and security had become much more important. Eventually, the residents in the informal settlements acquired the legal rights to land in Hout Bay, and all five districts moved there. Unfortunately, there still lacked any logical urban framework and a need for redevelopment arose over time.

A survey was taken to see how people from various socio-economic groups felt about the formation of Mizamoyethu. It seems that the predominantly coloured community showed less concern about its development; however, both the upper class and the middle class showed signs of discontent. Many organizations were formed to try and bring peace and order to the conflicting classes. It seemed that a “perceived need for a buffer [zone] between the formal and informal community and the impact of the settlement on property values and security” were the most important issues as shown by the graph in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Negative opinions towards the informal settlement (Oelofse & Dodson, 1997)

Since most of the residents of the informal settlements had acquired legal rights to the land they were living on by 1990, the state had to intervene to keep the nearby local residents happy (Oelofse & Dodson, 1997). Because of this, the settlement of Mizamoyethu was created. In order to make sure that the needs of everyone were met, Mizamoyethu was formally planned and kept in mind many of the issues that plague informal settlements. Once development of Mizamoyethu was completed, all of the residents of the informal settlements were moved there.

The development of the Hout Bay informal settlements shows that there is much more to spatial redevelopment than simply placing roads and buildings in locations that appear to be the most logical. People both inside and outside the community have very strong opinions about each other, and this is something that must be taken into consideration. It goes without saying that the image of Monwabisi Park needs to be improved, but the question centers around how to make both the residents of the informal settlement and the residents living in close proximity to the park happy. The focus of our project will be primarily on supporting the needs of the residents of Monwabisi Park; however, its location is right next to a major road (Mew Way) and across from the more formal settlement of Harare.