The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Townships and Lessons for Urban Spatial Restructuring in South Africa
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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Townships and Lessons
for Urban Spatial Restructuring in South Africa
SANELE BRIAN MBAMBO
Mangosuthu University of Technology
magezasb@gmail.com
SAMUEL BABATUNDE AGBOLA
Mangosuthu University of Technology
babatunde.agbola@gmail.com
Abstract
The footprints of the injustices of apartheid spatial planning remains visible in South Africa,
especially in the nation’s peri-urban settlements, exemplified in poorly planned and
densely populated townships. COVID-19 added to the socio-economic challenges of these
areas due to their spatial configuration, dense population, generally poor sanitation and
poor transport planning. These factors made the operationalization of the pandemic’s
dictates, such as washing of hands and social distancing, difficult, if not impossible. This
paper examines how the spatial organization and the various attributes of townships in
South Africa affect government’s attempt at curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic in these
areas. The paper contextualises the various government regulations aimed at curbing the
spread of the virus, with a view to learning significant lessons for urban spatial
restructuring. The paper is based mainly on a thematic and contextual analysis of
secondary data, including published and unpublished literature, especially government
regulations and activities on the pandemic in the study area. These are augmented with
national and international documented experiences of the pandemic. Findings show that
settlement overcrowding, poor restructuring and unresolved land restitution frustrate
government’s interventions to control the spread of COVID-19 in KwaMashu and other
South African townships. The paper concludes by making recommendations that highlight
the need for innovative methods to accelerate the refurbishment of poorly planned
townships; increased attention to informal settlement upgrading; and a land reform
programme. These will make the actualisation of future government plans easier in the
case of future epidemics and other emergencies.
Key Words: Apartheid; Spatial Planning; COVID-19
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 329
Introduction The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic emerged for the first time in China in the highly populated province of Wuhan in December 2019, escalating in 2020 to affect almost the entire world community (Biswasa et al., 2020). South Africa recorded its first case of infection in March 2020, leading to the declaration of a national state of disaster as per the Disaster Management Act No. 57 (RSA, 2002). This was due to the unprecedented spread of COVID-19 infections which led to the enforcement of lockdown regulations from the 26th of March, the first of its type since the dawn of the democratic dispensation (Ramaphosa, 2020). The implementation of the national lockdown forced all South Africans to stay in their homes (except for workers providing essential services). In addition, the lockdown banned all social gatherings, enforced a mandatory quarantine of at least 14 days for people already infected, and social distancing of 1.2 meters between 2 people (Ramaphosa, 2020). Citizens were mandated to regularly wash their hands and wear face masks in public places as precautionary measures. The application of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 has tested and exposed the responsiveness of the physical planning and architecture of peri-urban settlements in South Africa, especially those of the townships. The term “township” has been used in South Africa to refer to the underdeveloped and racially segregated settlements on the periphery of major cities (Township Renewal Sourcebook, 2009). These townships were reserved for non-white people in the apartheid spatial planning programme (Pernegger & Godehart, 2007). Most of the post-apartheid housing policies and programmes were designed to review and amend this odious spatial configuration and restore dignity to the townships (Department of Housing, 2004). Unfortunately, however, townships in South Africa are still characterised by high population density, informality, poverty, crime and general socio-economic backwardness and still bear the imprints of apartheid some 26 years later. Thus, these townships still exude the footprints of apartheid spatial planning injustices which expose the townships to many social challenges such as infectious diseases (Pernegger & Godehart, 2007). The sudden arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic to these townships now provides an opportunity to examine the impact of this virus on these socio- economically disadvantaged and generally insalubrious areas. This is with the aim of learning advantageous lessons for the spatial re-planning and upgrading of these areas. This paper examines how the spatial organisation of settlements and the various attributes of townships in South Africa affect government’s attempt at curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic in these areas. A thematic, systematic and context review and analysis of literature was conducted as a methodological approach. In the next section, we discuss the history of physical planning, from the apartheid era, followed by a description of the outlook of townships in South Africa today, with a focus on KwaMashu township in Durban. We then analyse the processes employed by the government to curtail the COVID-19 virus 330 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020
and the challenges encountered in townships. The research findings are then presented
and discussed, followed by the conclusion and some recommendations.
Planning in the Apartheid Era and the Emergence of Townships
The planning of the apartheid South African city was executed through a concrete
legislative framework. By the early 1920s in South Africa, thousands of the black
population had flocked into urban areas in search of better economic opportunities due to
land dispossessions. This resulted in the establishment of the Stallard Commission, which
investigated the impact of the presence of Africans in towns (Maylam, 1995).
Consequently, the Urban Areas Act of 1923 was enacted which recommended the
clearance of slums in urban areas where Black people lived. In addition, it gave authority
to municipalities to establish separate locations for African people, mainly on the outskirts
of urban areas (Maylam, 1995). The Group Areas Act of 1950 was later introduced to
reinforce the application of the Urban Areas Act, which compelled the establishment of
separate towns according to race groups namely Whites, Blacks, Coloureds and Indians,
and into which hundreds of thousands of non-Whites were forcefully moved (Seekings,
2011).
According to Hindson (1995), the fundamental objectives of apartheid urban planning was
the exclusion of some racial groups such as Africans and Indians from the centres of
economic and political activities in the cities. It was also to minimise social and
infrastructural expenditure in the new townships, leaving them poorly developed. Findley
and Ogbu (2011) observed that while cities were designated “for whites only,” the
townships became the mechanism for housing the non-white labour force, especially for
mines and industries. The houses in African townships were very small in size and without
a tittle deed. Each of these houses was also built on a very small plot, which made house
extensions and other activities that could be explored as livelihood strategies practically
impossible. This led to the formation and proliferation of informal housing, such as
backyard dwellings. Moreover, shacks were erected on the nearest unoccupied pieces of
land to overcome the shortage of housing and the harsh housing conditions.
Due to the non-availability or distant locations of shopping centres, small-scale shops,
referred to as “tuck-shops”, emerged to provide small households in townships with the
most essential items. Moreover, as a result of long distances to work and the shortage of
public transport, private minibus taxis came into operation and were used mostly by Black
commuters (Findley & Ogbu, 2011). These were known as ‘Black taxis,’ and are still the
cornerstone of public transport in townships to date. These activities have sustained the
informal economy and livelihood strategies of township dwellers. Rail transportation was
a common feature in Black townships for daily transportation of the labour force to their
workplaces, although it was not in good and sanitary conditions. Furthermore, the railway
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 331
lines were also used in apartheid physical planning as buffer zones between White areas and the townships. Black township schools were poorly maintained barrack-like structures with barred windows and second-hand desks, with no cultural facilities, although churches did provide facilities for community meetings (Findley & Ogbu, 2011). All these factors were significant in shaping the settlement patterns of townships in South Africa. According to the Township Renewal Source Book (2009), the layout of many townships in the 1950s was based on international planning models. It is also stated that the master plans for South African townships were often based on the British “New Towns”, which were generally planned as independent towns with their own economies. Furthermore, it is asserted that in this model of British planning ideology, large town centres and sub- centres were planned to accommodate commercial and public facilities (Township Renewal Sourcebook, 2009). This model is common in big South African townships such as KwaMashu. However, some of the facilities were put in place on a very small scale as development was intentionally reduced in the townships to ensure underdevelopment. Consequently, some vacant land reserved for such future development was occupied by informal settlements during and in the post-apartheid period, a factor that also contributed to overcrowding in townships. KwaMashu: The Context of the Study According to the World Bank, townships and informal settlements are home to more than half of South Africa’s urban population and approximately 60% of these are unemployed (BusinnessTech, 2016). A case-in-point is the KwaMashu township in Durban’s metropolis. The City of Durban had begun to experience rapid population growth during the 1950s due to rural-urban migration in search of better economic opportunities. As a result, the city council resolved on a plan to house the African population in a separate racial location according to the principles of the Group Areas Act (South African History Online [SAHO], n.d.). A sugar cane farm was purchased to establish a township, located about 18 kilometres away from Durban’s city centre and was approximately 21.47km squared in size (Arc Geographic Information System [ArcGIS], 2020). KwaMashu township was thus established in 1958 for the mass resettlement of the slum population from Cato Manor. The majority were Black migrant workers who were migrating into the city (Township Renewal Sourcebook, 2009). Cato Manor is located about 5 km from the Durban city centre and previously provided collective residence to the Black, Indian and Coloured populations, who could walk to their workplace without relying on public transport (ArcGIS, 2020; SAHO, n.d.). By 1962, more than 40 000 Black Africans were settled in KwaMashu township, and more people, who were relocated from other parts of the city, kept this number rising (Manson, 1981). This put a strain on the travelling distance and costs for workers who were travelling daily to the city. 332 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020
As part of the principles of the Group Areas Act, about 10 000 of the Indian population who
resided in Duff Road village were removed, as it fell on the boundary of the proposed
township (SAHO, n.d.). This was also a plan to create a huge buffer zone between the Black
and Indian populations. The buffer zones were important features of racial segregation in
apartheid townships (Adebayo & Musvoto, 2010).
KwaMashu is surrounded by former apartheid townships which include Inanda, Ntuzuma
(reserved for Blacks), and Phoenix, which was set aside for the displaced Indian population
(Royal HaskoningDHV, 2015). With its central strategic location, the area today connects
to majority of the high-income communities and economic centres in the north, west,
south and central region of the eThekwini Municipality (Figure 1). The communities include
Umhlanga, La Lucia, Mount Edgecombe, Durban North, Redhill, Pinetown, Hillcrest,
Verulam and generally the Durban City Centre. These surrounding high-income
communities are important economic points for KwaMashu as they provide a source of
income for many township inhabitants who are employed in these places.
Figure 1: Regional Accessibility of KwaMashu
Source: (Royal HaskoningDHV, 2015)
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 333
Figure 2: KwaMashu Town Centre in 2009
Source: (Baars, 2008)
334 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020The township in the post-apartheid era still had more than ten hectares of undeveloped
land that was under the ownership of the state (Township Renewal Sourcebook, 2009),
excluding the vacant land on the buffer zones. The state of the township by 1999 is shown
in Figure 2, where the area still had many undeveloped land parcels, shown by the arrows
and circles. This was five years into the post-apartheid era. The land was previously set
aside for the development of a town centre and other future developments. Therefore,
the post-apartheid pre-planning assessment for township upgrading considered the
greatest positive economic potential in the development of KwaMashu, using the
development of a town centre as a major economic intervention in the area. According to
the 2011 census data, KwaMashu has a population of 175 663, with 50 683 households
giving an estimated density of 2 360.89 per km² (Statistics South Africa, 2011). These
numbers have increased dramatically since the last census data.
The housing conditions in KwaMashu are shown in Figures 3 to 5. Figure 3 shows the low-
income free-standing houses. A number of these houses have informal back-yard
dwellings, used either as a household’s extended living space and or rented out as an
income generation activity. These are some of the reasons for overcrowding in this
township. Another important apartheid planning feature in the area is the Thembalihle
Hostel (Figure 4), previously developed to accommodate male migrant labourers as
government rental units (Royal HaskoningDHV, 2015). Many informal settlements have
developed around the Thembalihle Hostel, as a housing solution for many new migrants
coming into the township in search of economic opportunities. This is shown in the circle
in Figure 4 and amplified in Figure 5.
Figure 3: KwaMashu Township Houses
Source: (THA BRAVADO, 2018)
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 335336 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020
The dominant transport system for the people of KwaMashu is a combination of mini-bus
taxis and trains. These are common in many former apartheid townships. The rail transport
was put in place in many townships for the daily transportation of workers, while mini-bus
taxis emerged as an informal initiative to supplement the shortage and unaffordability of
transport. To date, mini-bus taxis and trains remain a dominant transportation means in
KwaMashu and many other townships in South Africa, with taxis being the largest. The taxi
industry is still classified under the informal sector as it is less regulated by government.
The important interventions made to the housing conditions mentioned above include the
refurbishment of the KwaMashu hostel as part of the Community Residential Units
upgrading programme. This can be seen in Figure 4 with the high-rise buildings. In addition,
the area has benefited from the Housing Rectification Programme to improve the quality
of the houses that were poorly built by the apartheid government. The rail redesign and
upgrading has been one of the important government interventions made in the
KwaMashu township as part of the plans to redress apartheid planning in the area (Royal
HaskoningDHV, 2015).
The case of KwaMashu also shows a significant planning strategy, where a buffer zone that
separated this township from the surrounding racial communities was used to develop a
new town centre. This was envisaged to promote integration amongst the existing
communities (Adebayo & Musvoto, 2010). The Bridge City development programme
(Figure 6) was an initiative to address the buffer zones that had caused poor access to
socio-economic facilities under apartheid’s spatial planning in South African cities. To date,
the Bridge City development consists of a shopping centre; an upgraded magistrate court;
and a new regional hospital1 which has recently been completed and is currently used as
one of the government’s quarantine centres for COVID-19 patients. Other significant
upgrades that have taken place in KwaMashu include the community health care centre,
the central shopping centre and other arts and recreational facilities.
1
The hospital is a 500-bed capacity facility and it is envisaged to reduce pressure on the
Mahatma Ghandi Hospital which serves all communities (neighbouring townships and informal
settlements) of Durban’s northern region and other local health care centres.
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 337338
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020
Figure 6: KwaMashu Bridge City Developments
Source: Independent Online Property Joint Venture (2020); Regent Lighting Solutions (2017); Sakhisizwe Architects (2017)Despite the various interventions to upgrade the township, many areas of KwaMashu
remain highly exposed to infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The fundamental challenge
that is still not resolved by these interventions is overcrowding, which may only be resolved
through a depopulation strategy. Overcrowding has resulted in socio-economic problems
that include informal housing development, unemployment, a rising crime rate, pressure
on the transport system, poor health care facilities and many other infrastructure deficits.
This cripple the capacity of the existing infrastructure to meet the township’s daily needs.
Hara, Ncube, and Sibanda (2020) assert that unplanned growth in informal housing and
settlements, and consequently the growth in demand for water, sanitation and other
services, are increasingly stretching the carrying capacity of the existing infrastructure in
many urban areas. The carrying capacity of KwaMashu’s infrastructure is grossly
overstretched by the population growth in this area. The other contributing factors are
that the area is at the centre of other former apartheid townships such as Inanda, Ntuzuma
and Phoenix, and that it is located along the major transport corridor. With KwaMashu as
the most developed amongst these, the surrounding areas tend to rely on the many
services offered within the KwaMashu township, thus overwhelming its capacity.
It is not surprising that the eThekwini Municipal Services and Living Conditions Survey for
the period 2017 and 2018 declared KwaMashu the most unsafe area in Durban (South
African Broadcasting Corporation [SABC] News, 2018). During the COVID-19 lockdown
period, the EThekwini Primary School located in KwaMashu was burgled, and many pieces
of technological learning equipment were stolen (Magubane, 2020). Unfortunately, the
school was developed through international funding and had only recently been unveiled,
becoming one of the most technologically advanced schools in KwaZulu-Natal.
Methodology
Data for this paper were sourced from a thematic and context review and analysis of
literature. Thus, published and un-published literature (especially government reports) on
the apartheid planning policy and strategies, housing (especially informal and township
housing), the provision of social and technical infrastructure facilities (availability and
adequacy, especially health services provision with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic),
and the impact of these on the people, has been thematically examined. This literature
was then contextualised within the informal settlement and township framework, with a
view to examining the impact of COVID-19 on the populace of KwaMashu and other
townships in South Africa. While KwaMashu provided the context for this paper, other
townships where COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in South Africa, such as Mamelodi in
Guateng Province, were also highlighted in the paper. All of these were supplemented with
various articles from different daily newspapers and television broadcasts and
documentaries on the ravages of COVID-19 in the different provinces and neighbourhoods,
especially townships in South Africa.
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 339The data sourced therefrom were analysed using three main indicators or determinants. These were housing, water and transport, which were the tell-tail signs of the impact of COVID-19 on the people of KwaMashu and other townships in South Africa. These analyses informed the various strategies and recommendations for the re-planning and rejuvenation of the townships. Inferences were then also drawn for other informal settlements in different countries in Africa. COVID-19 Curtailment Processes and the Challenges in the Study Area In the Urban Development Framework (UDF) of 1997, it was asserted that townships and informal settlements represented an under-utilised resource for the future. It was therefore envisaged that these areas would be transformed into sustainable, habitable, productive, environmentally healthy and safe urban environments, free from crime and violence (Department of Housing, 1997). While some interventions have been made in transforming the townships thus far, the upgrading to date has prioritised the development of economic nodes by bringing economic activities closer to the townships. This has been done with less focus on improving housing and settlement conditions, such as revising the apartheid township master plans. As a result, the proximity to urban growth nodes has not resulted in the integration and ideal transformation of these townships. The few townships that are relatively well-located and where economic nodes emerged have become overcrowded as they attract new migrants (Township Renewal Sourcebook, 2009). Depopulating these townships has been very difficult in the new township upgrading plans. This was the specific case of the KwaMashu township. Consequent to the advent of COVID-19, township settlement patterns and conditions made the implementation of the government’s lockdown regulations difficult and some practically impossible. Homes in KwaMashu, mostly shacks, were already overcrowded and close to each other. These shacks were only about one metre apart, making it impossible to deliver health services and assistance. Residents were forced to continue relying on communal water points and toilets, since these services had not been installed in their individual dwellings. The high levels of unemployment kept most people at home, with the youths spending the days on the streets, probably as a stretching and refreshing exercise away from their overcrowded homes. These conditions made it difficult for people to adhere to the lockdown regulations regarding social distancing, maintaining hygiene, observing the quarantine, the curfew, and others. During the Police Minister’s visit to the KwaMashu town centre, it was observed that as residents waited in very long queues to collect their social grants, it was impossible to practice social distancing (Eyewitness News, 2020). This was because of the sheer numbers of people, as the majority of the people living in townships like KwaMashu lived in poverty and relied heavily on the government’s social relief grants for their household income. 340 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020
According to Muggaah and Florida (2020), informal settlements around the world and
mostly in developing countries, are characterised by insecure property rights, low-quality
housing, limited basic services and poor sanitation. They also aggregate risk factors that
accelerate the spread of infections. These risk factors and the spread of infections are not
only a threat to these townships, but also to the surrounding high-income communities.
Cosgrove (2020) asserts that there is a symbiotic dependency of low and high-income
communities and a potential threat to all lives because of the poor levels of health and
unsanitary living conditions in the lower-income communities. This was the case illustrated
in Figure 1 with the regional connectivity of KwaMashu, which could pose a threat to the
many communities around Durban that most of the township inhabitants travelled to daily.
One of the urgent interventions by the National Department of Human Settlements was
the development of temporary residential units (TRUs). The aim was to depopulate
congested informal settlements in many parts of the country’s peri-urban environments,
to mitigate the spread of the disease. This was after the Department had identified 29 of
the most densely populated informal settlements in the country that required these
interventions. One of the areas in the townships where this programme was implemented
was the Mamelodi Hostel. This was one of the biggest hostels in Gauteng, with over 8000
residents, and where 1000 TRUs were built to reduce the number of occupants in the
overcrowded hostels (SA News, 2020). According to the Human Settlements Minister,
Lindiwe Sisulu, “[hostel overcrowding] makes it impossible for the residents to adhere to
some of the COVID-19 regulations. The risks posed by overcrowding in our settlements are
real. This requires all of us in the sector to work in unison to save lives by containing the
spread of COVID-19” (SA News, 2020, March 12: par. 5).
The provision of emergency services such as TRUs and water tanks to townships and
informal settlements during the COVID-19 period was an admission that these
communities had not been planned to be resilient to health and other risk factors (Hara,
Ncube, & Sibanda, 2020). Minister Lindiwe Sisulu also announced the procurement of
41 000 water tanks for distribution in informal settlements as a fight against COVID-19
(Jele, 2020). One of the targeted sectors for water provision was schools, particularly
primary and secondary schools. The reopening of schools was one of the most difficult
dilemmas for government to resolve. After the government announced an immediate
reopening of schools, labour unions in the education sector showed resistance to this
decision. Some claimed that at least seven out of nine provinces were far from ready for
schools to reopen. The major problems were that many rural and township schools were
still without water and ablution facilities. Nearly three quarters (64%) of the 3 400 surveyed
schools were found to have no water and 87% were reported to be without ablution
facilities (BusinessTech, 2020). This was an indication that peri-urban environments would
never be ready to absorb the pressure imposed by disastrous pandemics such as COVID-
19, and this could be attributed to poor physical planning.
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 341The transport challenge in townships, even in the face of COVID-19, also remained
unresolved. The escalating cost of fuel in South Africa had put pressure on the township
transport system, resulting in fare increases in the informal taxi industry. By the same
token, long distances to workplaces meant that commuters had to pay much higher prices
for their transport. The implementation of lockdown regulations made these conditions
even harsher and more deeply felt by the township inhabitants. In an attempt to maintain
social distancing, mini-bus taxis were compelled by government not to take full loads of
passengers and were limited to operating at 70% capacity. According to the South African
National Taxi Council (SANTANCO), this would see the taxi industry losing about 45% of the
taxis over a period of 6 months due to repossessions by banks (Pijoos & Masweneng, 2020).
The responses to these challenges were the increase in taxi fares and nationwide taxi
protests, which consequently added further economic strain to the low-income
communities. Later during the lockdown period, KwaMashu’s mini-bus taxi operators
adhered to the call by SANTACO to defiantly load at 100% of their capacity, which was in
conflict with government’s regulations of a 70% capacity load (eNCA, 2020). This came as
the mini-bus taxi business was failing to cope with the loss of income due to the lockdown
restrictions imposed. As a result, social distancing became impossible for the residents
travelling by mini-bus taxis. Due to the unaffordable cost of mini-bus taxis, most township
commuters resorted to using the government train services as an alternative mode of
transportation, but unfortunately the trains remained largely un-refurbished since the
apartheid period. These trains were normally overloaded, which made it impossible to
practice social distancing.
Figure 7 illustrates a very common factor in the rail mode of transportation in many
developing countries, especially in South Africa. This was an everyday experience for train
commuters of Soweto 2 and many other townships in South Africa, where government
COVID-19 regulations were difficult, if not impossible, to implement. Muggah & Florida
(2020) observed that getting to work was a primary necessity, even for those with very low
incomes and no savings. In addition, many people travelling to and from townships,
jammed together in vans, buses and trains over long distances were perfect vectors for
disease.
2
A former apartheid township located in Johannesburg. It is the largest township in South
Africa with 1 271 628 populations, according to the latest (2011) census data (BusinnessTech,
2016).
342 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020Figure 7: An Over-loaded Train in Soweto
Source: Radebe (2020, cited in The Mainichi, 2020)
The local and international trends of the COVID-19 spread showed that the virus was
prevalent in the densely populated and economically viable areas. During his address to
the nation, President Cryril Ramaphosa outlined areas that were regarded as Coronavirus
hotspots such as Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay,
Buffalo City and Cape Town (Ramaphosa, 2020). These were the largest metropolitan areas
and attracted more dense informal settlements. With these trends, the biggest townships
and informal settlements in South Africa were found to be the hotspots of this virus
because of their economy and population concentration. KwaMashu was not exempted
from these trends as it was one of the densely populated areas within the eThekwini
metropolitan.
Research Findings and Discussion
According to the United Nations’ Hidden Cities Report, “unforeseen events are inevitable
and will certainly shape the future of cities in ways that cannot be predicted fully. Cities
without adequate planning or proper governance will find it increasingly difficult to provide
affordable land, decent housing, adequate transportation and public services” (World
Health Organisation, 2010, p. 10). The unprecedented challenge being faced today is that
the township settlements that were designed for a limited time for city and industrial
workers have eventually become permanent residential areas for a constantly growing
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 343population. As a result, most of government’s interventions in these areas remained largely unnoticeable and / or unappreciated. The key findings of the study included settlement overcrowding, poor restructuring and unresolved land restitution, which validated these assertions as they were evident in the case of KwaMashu and other South African townships. The era of COVID-19 has exposed various weaknesses in the township settlements and factors that might not have been noticed during the re-planning and upgrading of these areas have been made manifest. Drawing from the experiences of the study area, other townships and international case studies, the South African authorities should apply enhanced innovative measures to create capacity for townships in fighting against any future health disasters similar to COVID-19. According to Hara, Ncube, and Sibanda (2020), human settlements COVID-19 interventions such as TRUs and mobile water tanks are a temporary solution to a perennial problem, which will return after the COVID-19 crisis. It emerged from the study that overcrowding is the most common challenging factor in South African townships. This therefore limits the proper servicing of these areas, which increases the risk level to human life. Townships that are located in large metropolitan areas face an even bigger challenge. However, we learn from literature that pandemics are not strange to Africa, and many lessons can be drawn from how ancient communities tackled this challenge. Drawing on archaeological evidence, we learn that ancient African communities adopted various strategies to manage epidemics using African indigenous knowledge systems. Some of the strategies included the burning of settlements as a disinfection mechanism before either reoccupying the areas or shifting homesteads to new locations (Chirikure, 2020). While it is not a practical and affordable strategy to burn township settlements today, what can be drawn from this lesson is that the virus will still live on if the settlements are not disinfected in modern ways. However, this practice will still be impossible in overcrowded informal settlements in townships. Social distancing has always been practiced in the development of African communities through the layout of settlements, where houses were limited to one or two in a space, but not too far apart for daily care and social support (Chirikure, 2020). This was because communities were aware that disease outbreaks were unpredictable but possible. Another significant finding was that the failure of the post-apartheid township upgrading, which fell far short of addressing the apartheid spatial mess, also aggravated the difficulties in the curbing of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus was mostly on upgrading the existing form of the townships, instead of comprehensive restructuring. As a result, township physical planning cannot be resilient to natural and health disasters such as COVID-19. Therefore, a lot is required in South Africa to successfully transform township environments into sustainable human settlements that are resilient to future epidemics and pandemics. This requires more than mere township upgrading, but rather a comprehensive restructuring of these settlements to reflect sustainable permanent 344 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020
residential areas that fully support the social, economic and health well-being of families.
The important lesson from the imposition of the lockdown regulations in South Africa and
elsewhere is that the economic stability of any country is secondary to the protection of
the health of individuals. The quality of life is then supported by the country’s stable
economy. Urban resilience must also ensure that settlements and people are able to live
with the disease, if it cannot be defeated. According to Chirikure (2020), in ancient African
communities some of the behaviours of resilience were supported by diversified diets that
included fruits, roots and other things that provided nutrients and strengthened the
immune system. The settlement plans for the restructuring of townships must therefore
put in place reasonable space to support urban agriculture. It has been proven that good
immune systems are crucial for the body’s resistance to COVID-19.
Inability to address land restitution in the post-apartheid era has had a significant impact
on settlement challenges faced in townships. One of the major contributing factors in the
delay in the development of sustainable human settlements in the post-apartheid period
is the non-affordability or inability of government to buy most of the suitable privately
owned land (Juta & Matsiliza, 2014). Seemingly, the land reform programme in South
Africa had not prioritised land-use for residential restructuring and development. When
former President Thabo Mbeki was addressing the 20th anniversary celebration of the
adoption of the Constitution, he pointed out that with regard to land claims3 made in the
previous years, records showed that the majority of the people who won their land claims
preferred to be given cash over land (Mbeki, 2016). He added that this could indicate that
the need for urban land for residential use was more urgent than for agricultural land in
South Africa. This assertion has proven to be correct in the case of the Oakford Priory
Housing Project, and housing challenges faced in townships.
Resolving the land dilemma in South Africa is very crucial for the feasibility of urban
restructuring. The case of the Oakford Priory Housing Project, located at the northern peri-
urban area of Durban, provides a significant lesson in this aspect. The land was acquired
through a land restitution programme, and it is owned by a community trust and prioritised
for residential development. This project has been developed using a township layout, and
the plan makes provision for more than 600 plots, each of 500m2, contrary to the 200m2 of
an RDP house. The features on each plot include small-scale agricultural land; 1800 litre
rainwater tanks; and pour flush system toilets due to water shortages in the area. Each
3
Claims were made in the Land Claims Court as part of the post-apartheid land restitution
programme for people who had their land dispossessed through colonial and apartheid policy
and legislative frameworks (Department of Justice, 2020).
African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020 345house is fitted with a grey water harvesting/recycling facility. Each family occupying a house has been trained to cultivate the ground around the house to produce vegetables. Two fruit trees are planted around each house. The vegetables and fruits can be used by the family to support them and surplus can be sold to generate cash income for the household. A communal agricultural marketplace is provided for the selling of fruits and vegetables (PID, 2018 ). The advantage enjoyed by this project is that the beneficiaries own the land, which was acquired through the land restitution programme, and in this case residential development has been prioritised. In addition, the project was developed through an integrated effort by various government departments, which include Human Settlements, Land Affairs and Water and Sanitation. During pandemics like COVID-19, beneficiaries of the Oakford Priory Housing Project are able to observe regulations put in place to mitigate the spread of infections, such as social distancing and quarantine for those who are infected or showing symptoms. Conclusion and Recommendations An important question raised by Praharaj & Vaidya (2020), after studying the effects of COVID-19 in major Indian cities is, “how resilient are cities to emergencies?” They emphasised a need to enforce more effective resilient urban development models that could prepare cities to adapt to various kinds of social and health disasters and stresses such as floods, pandemics, heatwaves and droughts which have become a new normal. In the case of South Africa, what is evident is the fact that building in townships and other peri-urban environments to make them resilient to the current and unforeseen future pandemics requires more than just upgrading. It must entail a comprehensive restructuring of these environments. If townships are not restructured, South Africa will be waiting for another, perhaps more vicious crisis, which might prove worse than the current pandemic. The upgrading of townships was done without reworking the apartheid township master plans. As a result, many challenges remain unsolved as these interventions remain mere prophylactics. According to the 1997 Urban Development Framework, the plans for housing upgrading must encourage investment and increased access to finance, social development, building of habitable and safe communities, maintaining of safety and security, and the designing of habitable urban communities (Department of Housing, 1997). Another factor to note is that carrying out a process of urban restructuring by depopulating congested townships and informal settlements is very costly and may ultimately be unaffordable for developing countries like South Africa. The building sector around the world and in South Africa in particular has explored one of the possible means to carry out this process of settlement restructuring. This is the use of innovative building technologies (IBT). This process, if adopted by the Human Settlement Department, will play a pivotal 346 African Journal of Governance and Development | Volume 9 Special Issue 1.1 • September • 2020
role in building resilient low-income sustainable settlements if land is made available
through the land reform programmes. Innovative building technologies, when compared
with conventional building methods, offer more accelerated and affordable benefits that
are also environmentally friendly and further offer health benefits in the delivery of
houses.
According to Blanco and Alberti (2009), in managing the post-disaster planning process
local governments need to combine firm safety regulations with citizen participation and
post-disaster planning requires well-funded planning processes, rich in information and
communication. Therefore, there is a need for city planners in the developing regions to
explore enhanced mechanisms for citizen participation and technological innovations for
urban planning and development of sustainable human settlements. When announcing
the plan to provide COVID-19 emergency water interventions in the most vulnerable areas,
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu stated that digital technology would be used to ensure that people
had access to water. In addition, she enthused that such inputs would strengthen the
department’s capability to be proactive and ensure that they deployed adequate water
provision to designated areas (Jele, 2020). Increasing the technical and professional
capacities of building and other built environment professionals in South Africa would be
the most significant foundation for all these recommendations.
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