Masiphumelele is a township on the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula ( af, Kaapse Skiereiland) is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of ...

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

, situated between

Kommetjie Kommetjie (Afrikaans for "small basin," approximately pronounced ''cawma-key'') is a small town near Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It lies about halfway down the west coast of the Cape Peninsula, at the southern end of ...

, Capri Village and Noordhoek. Initially known as Site 5, the township was renamed Masiphumelele by its residents, which is a

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 ...

word meaning "let us succeed". About 400-500 people first settled in the area in the 1980s. During

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

residents were continually removed to the suburb of

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

, over 30 km away, but the numbers began to grow as apartheid began to unravel from 1990. In 1990, about 8000 residents lived in the area, mostly in shacks, but by 2005, over 26000 people lived there, many in brick homes. In 2010, the population was estimated at 38000. Many are from the old

Ciskei Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...

in the

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. Amenities are scarce, with an overcrowded school, no police station, and an understaffed day clinic, while it's estimated that 30-40% of the community are infected with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and/or TB.

SHAWCO SHAWCO, the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation, is a student-run non-governmental organization, NGO based at the University of Cape Town that seeks to improve the quality of life for individuals in developing communities within th ...

, the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

Student's Health And Welfare Centres Organisation, runs weekly supplementary clinics from the Masiphumelele clinic.

History

Masiphumelele has been the site of numerous protests over the years. Most of the protests have been connected to service delivery and anger over corruption in government housing projects. On May 12, 2008 a series of riots started in the township of

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

(in the north-eastern part of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

) when locals attacked migrants from

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Many African nationals were threatened, assaulted and displaced in the wave of Xenophobic violence that swept through South Africa, and in the following weeks the

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

spread to Cape Town. Thousands of foreigners were displaced from Masiphumelele in the attacks of May 2008, most landing up at Soetwater refugee camp. Several days after immigrant-owned shops were looted and foreigners attacked, Masiphumelele residents publicly apologised and asked them to return. On May 2, 2011 a fire that started around 1 am engulfed and burned down an estimated 1500 informal and formal residences. The fire killed one and displaced an estimated 5000 people. High rates of violent crime and a lack of appropriate policing in the area resulted in serious protest action by the community in 2015.

References

External links

* Overhead view
of Masiphumelele
by photojournalist Johnny Miller. {{Cape Town, communities Suburbs of Cape Town Townships in the Western Cape

History

See also

References

External links