Redressing old housing patterns
AS A BLACK person born and raised in the townships, I am somehow left wondering whether the contention of inner city regeneration reported under the headline “Boom Town” (Cape Argus, March 11) does go deep enough towards redressing the old apartheid settlement patterns that distorted the need for racial integration.
While one commends the business boom and possible complementary effect to create jobs, does the benefit in terms of the CCID boom claims go towards supporting the business perspective at the expense of challenging the reality of the city remaining racially divided from a housing perspective? The highlighted residential opportunities are more for the middle to high-end market.
The research should have reflected more on the case for affordable housing or mixed-settlement opportunities which provide opportunities for all. Business in turn gets more traction through creation of additional clients.
Low-income households still have to travel longer distances due to the obviously poor road and transport networks and historical settlement patterns that still see these households paying more to travel to work or to seek work opportunities. To me and to many who have experienced inner-city revitalisation, there needs to be a radical shift towards challenging the current planning distortions to enable genuine transformation from a business and residential settlement per- spective. Public authorities are holders of significant properties which can be used to make such a bold statement. Instead these properties are reserved in the main for business interests instead of redressing the current housing challenges.
It has been proven in First World contexts and elsewhere, that mixed housing linked to business revitalisation works better if all households derive the end product benefit instead of a select few. Even Joburg and Durban have evidence of such integration through planning and development decisions that have seen all benefiting.
Unfortunately Cape Town cannot claim that. GCOBANI MANKUNKU Cape Town