QQ Section also known as Tambo Park, was founded in 1989 and is an Informal Settlement in the Site B sub-division 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 in South Africa.
Structure and location
There are about 650 families living in QQ Section, which is occupied mostly by migrants from the Eastern Cape and backyard-dwellers from the old overcrowded sections of Khayelitsha.
QQ section is located on Eskom-owned land beneath power lines
and next to the formal settlements of Q Section and the informal settlements of BM Section, RR Section and France.
Conditions
The settlement is well known as one of the most under-served and neglected communities in Cape Town. It has no services except for eight water taps. The city has refused to build toilets in the settlement and residents have to either pay homeowners in Q Section to use their facilities or cross the N2 freeway and use an open field. Despite living under electricity pylons, government refuses to install formal electricity in the community. Residents instead have to resort to illegal electricity connections. As a result, there have been huge shack-fires in the community. There are also severe floods in the settlement every winter.
Protests
QQ Section is collectively affiliated with the movement
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, , in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which organises land occupations, builds communes which as an office in the settlement
QQ Section has been on the forefront of various protest actions led by QQ Section Concerned Residents and Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape. These protests have been in response to the refusal of government to provide the community with services, the slow pace of relocation of residents and the lack of engagement from government. Protests by the community have included marches to the Mayor and Premier, civil disobedience and road blockades.
NGOs and Research
QQ Section has been the site of intervention by a number of NGOs. Most prominent is the work of the NGO
CHOSA Chosa may refer to:
* Chōsa Station, a railway station of JR Kyushu Nippō Main Line in Aira, Kagoshima, Japan
* chosa herring, ''Clupea pallasii suworowi'', a subspecies of the Pacific herring, ''Clupea pallasii''
* a portable shrine
A miniatu ...
, which supports a community-run daycare centre inside the settlement. It has also been the site of academic research because of its role as part of Abahlali baseMjondolo in leading various prominent protests and strikes in the
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 area.
See also
*
Mandela Park
Mandela Park is a neighborhood located within the Khayelitsha urban area of the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It was established in 1986 under the apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African Eng ...
*
Mzonke Poni
Mzonke Poni is an activist in Cape Town. He is the former chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape and was previously a leader of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. The ''Sunday Times'' has described him as "the face of an AN ...
*
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, , in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which organises land occupations, builds communes
*
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign was a non-racial popular movement made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa.
*
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
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qq Section
Suburbs of Cape Town
Shanty towns in South Africa
Slums in South Africa
Land occupations in South Africa