Gated estates can create a new apartheid
August 30, 2005
Nathi Mthembu
The very existence of closed communities is arguably one of the shameful legacies of our country's past, writes Nathi Mthembu.
Prof Bonke Dumisa in "Rich, gated suburbs lay the golden eggs" (The Mercury, August 22) overlooks the real issues of concern as raised by President Thabo Mbeki in Johannesburg recently.
The issues are the growing gap between the rich and the poor, an apparent return to separate residential areas on the basis of race and wealth or class, and how to use housing development to create jobs and establish truly integrated communities regardless of race and wealth.
The most outstanding issue which requires a complete overhaul of policies that govern local authority town planning schemes, is the danger of these gated communities becoming "local government within local government" - an own affairs local setup.
The proliferation of rich or exclusive gated estates in the country is a definitive feature of modern socio-economic strata. To an extent it is true that a person's economic power determines whether he/she stays in these gated estates and that, in the post-1994 era, the question of one's race or colour is increasingly becoming a non-issue.
However to the extent that most black people are still trapped in the vicious circle of poverty, and by far the majority of residents in these gated estates are white, this suggests that the very existence of gated estates is arguably one of the shameful legacies of our country's past.
In an exclusive estate like Zimbali in KwaDukuza's Ballito area, fewer than 10 out of 100 units are occupied or owned by black people. Black people constitute more than 70% of the population of KwaDukuza.
It can thus be safely concluded that only a few black educated elite who have "made it" in the private sector and very few public servants in the top echelons of parastatals can be counted among those that can afford property in these mushrooming golf estates.
Exaggeration
It is common knowledge that the state has through legislation intervened to begin to level the economic landscape by facilitating access to economic opportunities for black people.
However to suggest, as Dumisa puts it, that "econo-mic forces of supply and demand have addressed the issue" of the racial mix of gated estates is an exaggerated view of reality.
In KwaDukuza, we are probably leading the pack when it comes to expensive golf and/or gated estates. It is not uncommon to hear of units selling for R14 million in these estates.
Gated as they are, they are literally and physically separated from the ultra-poor, who are predominantly and historically black people.
To enter Zimbali Golf Estate you require an entrance permit. A specific form of identification gains you entry if you are employed there. To crown it all, ordinary citizens are effectively prevented from enjoying themselves in one of the most pristine and beautiful swimming beaches, from Tongaat River Mouth to the southern boundary of Ballito Beach , north of Zimbali - a stretch of about 1km.
This is a classical example of what the president said: "We have, among others, an urgent task of bringing to a stop the pro-rich housing development strategies that ensure that the best located land that is close to all the best facilities is always available to the rich, a situation where the best land is allocated especially to create gated communities and golf estates, while the poor can only access dusty semi-developed land far away from modern infrastructure."
This is a challenge that the KwaDukuza Municipality must begin to deal with head-on, to reverse this trend.
It sounds like an extremely short-sighted view to say that these estates have "created a new economic boom in areas where formerly there was no visible economic activity".
Employment
Without scientific research into employment patterns created in these estates and the type of economic activities taking place, it would be immature of anyone in an area like KwaDukuza to make such a bold pronouncement.
Until I know who runs their laundry business, who does their landscaping, verge maintenance, security and how many people are employed and generally who is on their data base of service providers, I cannot begin to ululate and proclaim an economic boom.
Granted jobs mainly in the domestic servants sector have been created. To assess the socio-economic impact could be interesting as one would have to take into account the huge transport costs that they incur and if they stay-in, the social impact of being separated from their families.
We are constantly inundated with applications for the development of new exclusive estates. The challenge we face is to guard against a return to apartheid patterns along racial and class divisions.
As Mbeki puts it, as a municipality we need to be able "to use housing to integrate our communities so that we should no longer have parts of our cities designated exclusively for the rich and others for the poor".
It is heartening to learn that at least one of the proposed major up-market residential developments driven by e'Lan Group alongside Blythedale Beach about 5km to the east of Stanger (KwaDukuza town), seems to have a unique township design that combines a mix of middle-income, an enclave of low-cost houses and as a main landmark a set of exclusive units.
Initial plans viewed indicate that access to social and public amenities such as the beach is guaranteed to all. This is the uniqueness that seems to be responsive to a call by the government and the president to guard against a perpetuation of settlement patterns along racial, gender and class divisions.
The central issue raised by Mbeki on the occasion of the opening of the Brickfields Housing Development, to which Dumisa apparently responded was, among others, a critical milestone project of providing "housing for mixed income groups", outside of townships and rural areas.
If we are talking about building communities, paramount among the characteristics of such communities should mixed income groups, mixed cultural or religious persuasions and a correct demographic mix. It is too simplistic to accept that economic forces of supply and demand alone, without any catalistic interventions by government, would address access to suburbs and exclusive estates by all.
The president aptly deals with this when he says that housing development should be used "to break the barriers between the first economy residential property boom and the second economy slump".
