SHANA-LEE ZIERVOGEL

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Dark Dawn

Visa makes the world go round

Free them through gospel

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Mineral Occupation

The Archives

Cape Town is considered to be South Africa’s most segregated city due its social composition and spatial form are rooted in its colonial and apartheid history. A history where racial discrimination was extreme between 1948-1994. It is a city that holds extremely wealthy suburbs which offer exceptional amenities, beautiful scenery and access to opportunities to move up the social ladder but is also juxtaposed with extreme poverty, inhospitable settlements that are often neglected economically, politically and socially despite its deep history. Places such as District Six, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.

Cape Town's crowded informal settlements around the City Bowl showcase marginalized communities creating space in cities that fail to accommodate them. The city's unique topography and biodiversity hotspot lead to housing shortages, segregation, and special nature reserves. The Atlantic Seaboards attract wealthy international homebuyers and tourists, inflating house prices and affecting the local economy.

Its social and spatial and social divisions are rooted in the long history of colonial rule and Apartheid. The Group Areas Act of 1950, a key apartheid law, enforced racial segregation, making race synonymous with socio-economic status. Despite its abolishment in 1994, urban inequalities persist, with economic growth and affirmative action not eradicating these divides.

When the National Party came into power in 1948, it developed and formalised decades of racial exclusion through laws such as the Group Areas Act. Residential Zones were assigned on the basis of race, with the central urban areas reserved for white citizens while Black, Coloured and Indian communities were pushed to peripheral sites.

In Cape Town, this destroyed established communities and displaced around 150,000 people by the late 1960s - including 55,000 residents uprooted from District Six. Peripheral areas such as Mitchells Plain (created in the 1970s) and Khayelitsha (created in the 1980s) were designed to house displaced Coloured and Black communities far from the city centre, with minimal planning for jobs, education and public services.

This geographical exclusion continues to profoundly affect Cape Town’s working class population- who often find themselves far from quality schools, jobs and services. Meanwhile commercial success of the central business district (CBD) and surrounding tourist hubs has increased property prices leading to gentrification that displaces lower-income households. This process furthers the already vast gap of inequality between the rich and the poor, making it harder for vulnerable communities to thrive.

This legacy of Apartheid planning forces most of Cape Town’s working-class population - including hospital workers, shop assistants, security staff and cleaners - to endure long, unsafe and emotionally taxing daily commutes from distant townships. Municipal reports estimate that poor households spend up to 40 % of their disposable income on transport. Many residents remain trapped in these areas due to restrictions on the resale of government housing within the first ten years, compounded by the delays of receiving title deeds.

These spatial barriers reinforce the racial and class inequalities established under Apartheid. Living far from economic opportunities makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to break cycles of poverty, and race remains closely linked to spatial exclusion.

These burdens fall unevenly across the population, with gender playing a significant role in shaping experiences of mobility and safety. Women and gender- diverse people face heightened vulnerability on the public transport and public spaces. Harassment is common: many women report avoiding taxis dominated by male passengers , while verbal abuse and sexual harassment are frequent. Fear of sexual violence shapes how women trave= influencing their routes, times of travel and transport choices. Walking alone can also be dangerous , forcing many women to travel in groups or seek costly alternatives like Uber, Bolt, In drive etc.,. For young children in townships affected by gang violence, the journey to school itself can become a daily risk, limiting educational opportunities and future prospects.

Beyond the physical hardships of commuting , the emotional and psychological effects of forced removals and ongoing spatial inequality are profound. Many families continue to carry the trauma of displacement, having been uprooted from their close-knit communities and ancestral homes. This disconnection from place and history contributes to a sense of loss, alienation, and fractured identity. The stress of navigating hostile urban environments while struggling with economic insecurity exacerbates mental health challenges , particularly for women and children.

These emotional impacts reverberate across generations, shaping how many residents understand their place in the city today.

Despite these systemic barriers, communities continue to resist and survive in creative ways. Grassroots housing activism, informal transport networks, and everyday acts of care and solidarity allow residents to adapt and push back against spatial injustice. Such efforts challenge narratives of helplessness and reveal the resilience and strength of marginalised communities in Cape Town.

To understand Cape Town’s ongoing spatial inequality is to recognise it not merely as a legacy of the past, but as a living system that still structures opportunity, risk, and well-being. Archival work plays a vital role in centring the voices of those displaced and marginalised — reminding us that these histories are far from over, and that imagining more just urban futures depends on remembering them.

Research by Zoku Mgoduka-Horn and cross-checked by Kauthar Amlay