Township grows to 40 000 dwellers

MASIPHUMELELE, which translated from Xhosa means “we will succeed”, began as an area where thousands of residents looking for work settled about 25 years ago.

Today, according to residents, 40 000 people live in the informal settlement which covers about 0.39km².

According to the 2011 census, 82 percent of households in Masiphumelele have a monthly income of R3 200 or less.

The census figures showed that 35 percent of residents aged 30 years or older have completed matric, or studied further.

According to a website for the NGO Masicorp, which has operated in the area for years, in the early 1980s a group of between 400 to 500 residents tried to start up an informal settlement near to where Masiphumelele is now.

“Under the old apartheid laws the families were chased away and moved on by force,” it said. The website said the residents were told they would have to go to other areas, including Khayelitsha.

For those who worked in Fish Hoek and surrounds, this meant long journeys to and from home.

“Nearly 10 years later, in 1991/92 as apartheid was ending, they tried again.

“A group of people from Khayelitsha, joined by a few thousand people from the Eastern Cape who hoped to find work in the area, moved on to what was then known as Site 5. It was renamed Masiphumelele by the people soon after,” the Masicorp website said.