Delft is a township on the outskirts of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It is situated next to the

Cape Town International Airport Cape Town International Airport is the primary international airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the second-busiest airport in South Africa and fourth-busiest in Africa. Located approximately from the city center, the airport wa ...

Belhar Belhar is a small town in the Western Cape, South Africa and forms part of the Cape Flats area in the City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the cit ...

Blue Downs Blue Downs is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It forms part of the Oostenberg subregion of the City of Cape Town situated on the eastern outskirts of the city and is also located on the Cape Flats, a flat expanse of land east of Cape Tow ...

, Ikwezi Park, Mandalay,Luzuko, Phillipi East and Site C,

Khayelitsha Khayelitsha () is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to be the largest

. It is known for its recreational events, youth empowerment organizations such as Enkosi Foundation and the community has establish a motherbody organisation, the Delft Community Development Forum. Delft is a community that consists of numerous government built housing projects such as the

N2 Gateway The N2 Gateway Housing Pilot Project is a large housebuilding project under construction in Cape Town, South Africa. It has been labelled by the national government's former Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu as "the biggest housing project ever unde ...

History

Delft was established in 1989. It is a rapidly expanding community found within District D: Tygerberg. This community was originally established as an integrated service land project for 'coloureds' and 'blacks'.

Geography and demographics

Delft is situated approximately 34 km east of Cape Town, and approximately 7.5 km from Bellville. It was established to be one of Cape Town's first mixed race township including coloured and black residents. In 2000, it had a population between 25,000 and 92,000 inhabitants. According to the 2011 census, Delft was 51% Coloured and 46% Black African with 3% "other". The dominant first languages are

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

and

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

while

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is widely used as second language. The majority of residents have not finished their matric. Official unemployment levels are at about 43% (although unofficially, this might be much higher). Much of Delft consists of government housing projects. The newest projects are the Symphony which is the main part of the N2 Gateway Pilot Project as well as Temporary Relocation Areas (TRAs) such as Tsunami and the Symphony Way TRA.

Subdivisions

Delft is a big township. It is divided into 7 places (divisions) namely Delft South (also known as Suburban), Voorbrug, Leiden (Delft Central), Eindhoven, Roosendal, The Hague and the new Symphony section. Delft South is predominantly populated by Xhosa-speaking people, Leiden (Delft Central) is a mixed community of both Xhosa-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking people. Voorbrug, The Hague, Roosendal and Eindhoven are predominantly populated by Afrikaans-speaking coloured people.

In the news

In 2008, Delft was in the news because of the controversial N2 Gateway housing project. The shackdwellers of

Joe Slovo Informal Settlement Joe Slovo is an informal settlement in Langa, Cape Town. Like many other informal settlements, it was named after former housing minister and anti-Apartheid activist, Joe Slovo. With over 20,000 residents, Joe Slovo is one of the largest inform ...

in Cape Town have publicly refused to be forcibly removed to Delft. Also, in December 2008, backyard dwellers occupied over 1,000 N2 Gateway houses in the new Symphony section of Delft. DA Councillor Frank Martin who was accused of inciting thousands of poor people to occupy these houses. Eventually, the families who occupied the houses were violently evicted by police who used rubber bullets to put down the protest. News of the violent repression reached international news with some people saying that it has severely hurt South Africa's reputation. Evicted residents are now living in makeshift shacks on Symphony Way which has widely become known as "

Blikkiesdorp Symphony Way Temporary Relocation Area in Delft, Cape Town, better known by its nickname Blikkiesdorp, is a relocation camp made-up of corrugated iron shacks.

" across from the houses. This was believed to have been temporary housing for the evicted dwellers; however, they are still occupying "Blikkiesdorp" for the past five years.

Land use

Blikkiesdorp Symphony Way Temporary Relocation Area in Delft, Cape Town, better known by its nickname Blikkiesdorp, is a relocation camp made-up of corrugated iron shacks.

Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers Symphony Way Informal Settlement was a small community of pavement dwellers (shack dwellers who live on the pavement) that lived on Symphony Way, a main road in Delft, South Africa, from February 2008 until late 2009. They were a group of famili ...

References

{{Authority control Housing in South Africa Townships in the Western Cape Suburbs of Cape Town