Delft is a township on the outskirts of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. 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 List of South African airports by passenger movements, second-busiest airport in South Africa and List of busiest airports in Afric ...

Belhar Belhar is a small town in the Western Cape, South Africa and forms part of the Tygerberg area in the City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town (; ) is a Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that forms the metro ...

Blue Downs Blue Downs is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It forms part of the Eastern Suburbs Zone 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 (South Africa), township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town, City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa language, Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to ...

. It is known for its recreational events and youth empowerment organizations such as the Enkosi Foundation. The community has established a motherbody organisation called 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 und ...

. In 2022 Delft was the fastest growing community in Cape Town.

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 languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

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 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 large residential area located on the outskirts of Cape Town. It is divided into seven sections: Delft South (also known as Suburban), Voorbrug, Leiden (Delft Central), Eindhoven, Roosendal, The Hague, and the newly developed Symphony section. Delft South is predominantly home to Xhosa-speaking residents. Leiden (Delft Central) has 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, Langa, and in Milnerton 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 ...

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, Cape Town, Delft, South Africa, from February 2008 until late 2009. They were ...

References

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