The perfect funnel to the North
The Beitbridge border connects South Africa with Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Mozambique. Most of the goods that come from or through South Africa to surrounding countries pass through here, along with the millions of Zimbabweans who live and work in South Africa.
Beitbridge. Picture: EPA/Aaron Ufumelir
And then there are the traders who perpetually buy in Musina to supply the Zimbabwean consumer. It’s a perfect funnel.
A Zimbabwean known as Takawera is driving his truck from Johannesburg to Harare. This time, his load consists of piping for the mines, some cables and toilet seats.
On 7 December 2020, civil society organisations submitted a joint proposal to President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for the urgent release of three large and exceptionally well-located parcels of unused or underused military land in Cape Town for the development of low-income housing.
The three identified sites are Youngsfield, Wingfield and Ysterplaat, military airports that are either owned by the Department of Defence or under the custodianship of the Department of Public Works. These sites can provide housing for up to 67 000 households. Instead, they remain underutilised.
Twenty-six years after apartheid, Cape Town remains characterised by spatial inequalities, with the vast majority of poor and working-class families (who are predominantly black and coloured) still being confined to townships and informal settlements on the outskirts of the city. Many peripheral areas in Cape Town have limited access to basic services, forcing families to share an insufficient number of temp