Claiming a Space in a Changing South Africa

The “Squatters” of Marconi Beam, Cape Town

Bibliographic Data

ID8375876
AuthorsGrant Saff (0009-0004-8701-142X, Hofstra University, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume86
Issue2
Pages235-255
Publication date1996-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the Association of American Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-5608 • E-ISSN: 1467-8306
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-8306.1996.tb01752.x
OpenAlexW2088389257
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited19

The urban policies and processes during the political transition (1990–1994) in South Africa were more than a continuation of those employed in the late 1980s. These new policies together with the nature of the political transition created the conditions for two important changes in South Africa's urban environment: 1) the de jure desegregation of some formerly segregated urban areas; and 2) the seizure by small numbers of the urban poor of prime land within some previously “white” suburbs. This paper investigates these changes through a case study of the establishment of an informal settlement within a “white” suburb in Cape Town. In 1990 black squatters erected shacks on Marconi Beam, a piece of state-owned land within the white suburb of Milnerton. While these squatters managed to maintain their foothold in the area, they gained little access to the suburb's social and educational facilities and they were excluded from official local government institutions for the duration of the national political transition (and beyond). I argue that it was only through the unique politics of the transition that local governments—largely in defiance of the wishes of their white voters—permitted settlements such as Marconi Beam to remain in these locations. As class replaces race as the driving force behind South Africa's city structure, and as new democratically elected local governments assert more control over the urban environment, it is unlikely that relatively affluent desegregating suburbs will tolerate similar informal settlements

Archaeology · Desegregation · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics) · Human settlement · Local government · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Settlement (finance) · Sociology · State (computer science) · Urban politics · White (mutation) · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Public Administration · South African History and Culture · Urban and Rural Development Challenges

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