[South Africa] Surf City blighted by deluge of poverty

from Business Day

Deputy Political Editor

THOSE who confine themselves to the city of Durban when touring KwaZulu-Natal never get to witness the levels of abject poverty and unemployment facing more than half of the eThekwini Metro Municipality’s 3,1-million people.

The area has more than 149000 households that use pit latrines, 10000 that depend on buckets and, due to the lack of any sanitation facilities whatsoever, 320000 rely on fields.

More than 150000 households still use paraffin and candles, and about 130000 of them get water from communal street taps, rivers, streams, boreholes and rain tanks.

Promises of a better life for the poor and a shack-free, safer neighbourhood are coming from four major parties: the African National Congress (ANC), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Democratic Alliance and the Minority Front.

The metro’s major challenge, says outgoing ANC mayor Obed Mlaba, involves the extension of basic infrastructure such as electricity, sanitation, water and health facilities to areas excluded by the apartheid regime.

While the first five years of SA’s municipal transformation focused on the incorporation of black townships into Durban’s overall development programmes, he admits that not enough has been done to build the economies of areas that are predominantly black.

“Since townships will not be dismantled, the next five years must focus on them building self-sustaining economic hubs within the broader vision of the city’s development,” he says.

Investment in townships’ central business districts is essential to help turn the “Bantu settlements” into viable urban areas, Mlaba says, as this will ensure people not only get jobs from industrial investments, but grow local economies by keeping money within communities.

Mlaba also believes the integration of blacks into the city is essential to change the current norm of “the African child always being a visitor to the city”.

To this end, his municipality has begun giving massive discounts on council flats in Durban to promote home ownership by blacks as part of government’s strategy to create mixed-income communities.

City manager Michael Sutcliffe admits that SA’s history places the municipality in a difficult situation with some residents living in areas with good infrastructure and social amenities, while those on the periphery are poorly developed.

“We have about 200000 households living in poverty and an unemployment rate of about 50% concentrated in these areas.”

While the municipality is increasingly narrowing the gap between the haves and the have-nots in terms of access to basic services, Sutcliffe says, the next council must break the pattern of inequity by linking service delivery to economic development.

He says the regeneration of central business areas must continue to ensure no areas of the city are turned into slums. Sutcliffe also foresees massive city housing development in the form of flats to bring the low-income workers closer to their places of work while encouraging those with transport to build in periurban settings.

Sutcliffe says public transport has been ignored for too long. The council is working on an inner-city “people-mover system” that will incorporate rail, buses and taxis, he says.

Corridors of these transport projects are already in their pilot phase. Future development plans will be accompanied by comprehensive public transport strategies, he says.

Meanwhile, the Durban Chamber of Commerce is playing its role in promoting the city’s economic opportunities with campaigns attempting to attract industries such as information and communications technology, clothing, footware, furniture agribusiness and arts and crafts.

IFP mayoral candidate Thembi Nzuza says the ANC-led council announces grand plans but does little. She argues that black business is often overlooked.

Nzuza says the council should be exemplary in investing in townships to stimulate their economies. Rather than giving all the attention to the Durban beachfront, she says township beaches such as Amanzimtoti equally deserve an investment injection to stimulate growth and broaden empowerment.

‖This is part of a series of articles being run as a joint initiative between Business Day and the Open Society Foundation for SA.