scholarly journals Multidimensional Poverty in Informal Settlements in Windhoek, Namibia, and Orange Farm, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggie Chiwara ◽  
Antoinette Lombard
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Orange Farm

scholarly journals The Conditions for after Work: Financialization and Informalization in Posttransition South Africa

PMLA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 782-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Maria Makhulu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Global South ◽  
First Century ◽  
Informal Employment ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Informal Economies ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
Modes Of Life

This essay situates the problem of twenty-first-century work in the global South—specifically, in South Africa—to challenge northern theories of the crisis of work. Addressing the break between Fordism and post-Fordism peculiar to the postcolonial context, it argues that new regimes of work should be understood in relation both to longer histories of colonial resistance to proletarianization (to the racisms of the shop floor) and to colonial Fordisms, as well as to the way these two factors inform the current expansion of informal employment. What practices and forms of life emerge from the precarity of informal economies and informal settlements? How are precarious modes of life connected to and informed by the steady dematerialization of the economy through financialization?

The community strike: From precarity to militant organizing

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 159-177
Author(s):  
Marcel Paret
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
The State ◽  
A Site ◽  
Collective Actor

How do insecure layers of the working class resist when they lack access to power and organization at the workplace? The community strike represents one possible approach. Whereas traditional workplace strikes target employers and exercise power by withholding labor, community strikes focus on the sphere of reproduction, target the state, and build power through moral appeals and disruptions of public space. Drawing on ethnography and interviews in the impoverished Black townships and informal settlements around Johannesburg, I illustrate this approach by examining widespread local protests in South Africa. Insecurely employed and unemployed residents implemented community strikes by demanding public services, barricading roads and destroying property, and boycotting activities such as work and school. Within these local revolts, community represented both a site of struggle and a collective actor. While community strikes enabled economically insecure groups to mobilize and make demands, they also confronted significant limits, including tensions between protesters and workers.

Community-Centred Infrastructure Design Process for Resilience Building in South African Informal Settlements: The “Genius of Space” Solid Waste and Greywater Infrastructure Project

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Lauren Hermanus ◽  
Sean Andrew
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Public And Private Sector

Due to a lack of adequate water and sanitation infrastructure, growing, unplanned urban settlements in South Africa and elsewhere have been linked to pollution of critical river systems. The same dynamics undermine local resilience, understood as the capacity to adapt and develop in response to changes, persistent social and ecological risks, and disasters. Water and sanitation challenges undermine resilience by causing and compounding risks to individuals, and to household and community health and livelihoods, in a complex context in which communities and local governments have limited capacity and resources to respond appropriately. Household and community resilience in informal settlements is drawing increasing policy focus, given the persistence of these kinds of neighbourhoods in cities and towns in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa, in particular. This case considers whether bottom-up responses that combine public and private sector resources, including community participation, and use an interdisciplinary approach can support the production of novel resilience-fostering solutions. This article presents an analysis of the case of Genius of Space waste and wastewater management infrastructure in the Western Cape, South Africa. While the process has been imperfect and slow to show results, this analysis reflects on the gains, lessons and potential for replication that this work has produced. The Genius of Space approach adds to a growing area of practice-based experimentation focussed on incrementalism and adaptive development practices in urban environments, particularly in developing countries.

Asthma‐related outcomes associated with indoor air pollutants among schoolchildren from four informal settlements in two municipalities in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

Indoor Air ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toyib Olaniyan ◽  
Mohamed Aqiel Dalvie ◽  
Martin Röösli ◽  
Rajen Naidoo ◽  
Nino Künzli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Western Cape Province ◽  
Indoor Air Pollutants

Appraisal of fire safety interventions and strategies for informal settlements in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Shaun Walls ◽  
Rodney Eksteen ◽  
Charles Kahanji ◽  
Antonio Cicione
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Fire Protection ◽  
Fire Safety ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Active Fire ◽  
Passive Fire Protection ◽  
Safety Interventions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Broad Understanding

Purpose Informal settlements are inherently unstructured in nature, lack adequate services, regularly have high population densities and can experience social problems. Thus, fires can easily propagate rapidly through such areas, leaving thousands homeless in a single fire. The purpose of this paper is to present an appraisal of various interventions and strategies to improve fire safety in informal settlements in South Africa (globally, similar settlements are known as slums, ghettos, favelas, shantytowns, etc.), considering aspects of both technical suitability and social suitability. Design/methodology/approach This paper focusses on three specific aspects: ignition risk management, active fire protection interventions and passive fire protection interventions. These are presented within a framework to outline how they may mitigate the impact of fires. Findings Often “solutions” proposed to improve fire safety either lack a sound engineering basis, thus becoming technically inefficient, or do not consider social circumstances and community responses in settlements, thereby becoming practically, socially or economically unsuitable. It must be understood that there is no “quick fix” to this significant problem, but rather a combination of interventions can improve fire safety in general. A broad understanding of the various options available is essential when addressing this problem, which this paper seeks to provide. Practical implications This paper seeks to provide an overview to guide policymakers and organisations by illustrating both the advantages/benefits and disadvantages/challenges of the interventions and strategies currently being rolled out, as well as potential alternatives. Originality/value A broad but succinct appraisal is provided that gives insight and direction for improving fire safety in informal settlements. It is hoped that the challenges associated with the fire safety interventions discussed can be addressed and improved over time.

scholarly journals And a Threefold Cord: La Guma’s neglected masterpiece?

Literator ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-80
Author(s):  
G. Cornwell
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Class Inequality ◽  
Publication History ◽  
Artistic Integrity ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
Political Message

For a variety of reasons (including its publication history), Alex la Guma’s second novel And a Threefold Cord (1964) has long been neglected by readers and critics. This essay seeks to redress this situation by offering a reading of the novel that demonstrates its artistic integrity. Like A Walk in the Night, And a Threefold Cord avoids the overt propagandizing that arguably mars La Guma’s later work. The political “message” of the text is shown to emerge organically from events that unfold in its presented world. And a Threefold Cord is set in a Cape Flats shantytown, and it analyses the predicament of the shanty dwellers in terms of class inequality and economic exploitation, rather than in terms of racial discrimination. This ensures the novel’s continuing relevance in a South Africa where far too many people are inadequately housed in ever-growing “informal settlements”.

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