Unequal Scenes: Imizamo Yethu/Hout Bay
Hout Bay is a picturesque valley about 15km south of Cape Town, situated between several mountains. There is a protected harbor at one end of the valley, which is one of the busiest fishing harbors in the Western Cape, along with several wealthy housing estates, hotels, and small farms.
Nestled between two of these affluent housing estates is the suburb of Imizamo Yethu. Imizamo Yethu (IY) is comprised of both a designated housing area and an “informal settlement” area, which is largely comprised of small shack dwellings which stretch up the steep slopes of the mountain behind it.
The shacks in this informal settlement reach right to the very edge of the demarcated area, in a densely packed jumble of tin roofs. In fact, even though the total area of IY is much smaller than the whole Hout Bay valley, the two have roughly the same population, 15538 vs. 17329. (City of Cape Town Census 2011)
Although there are services that exist in IY, including schools and a police station, statistics for service delivery are hard to find. However, the striking visual dissimilarities between the richer estate to the north, Tierboskloof, and IY are immediately apparent when viewed from the air. The line of trees which divides the two hides what I can only assume is a heavily fortified fence. In some cases, the houses (some with swimming pools) are just a stone’s throw from the shacks.
The most striking thing to me is the number of trees in Tierboskloof, versus the almost treeless IY. On the day I flew overhead, it was scorchingly hot, almost reaching 30 degrees. I imagined that the temperatures underneath the tin roofs must have been stifling.
Imizamo Yethu residents in Hout Bay protest over housing
Violent protests in Hout Bay, have flared up for a third day in a row.
Victims of Imizamo Yethu Informal Settlement fire have been blocking off roads with burning tyres since Saturday.
Residents have been complaining over the slow pace of the rebuilding process after a fire destroyed many shacks in March.
For more news, visit:
'After The Fire' - Township By Drone Ep. 02 - Imizmo Yethu Fire - Hout Bay - Cape Town.
South African Townships By Drone' is a series of drone videos i plan to film and release with the aim of raising awareness of the living conditions of the majority of South Africans and Immigrants living in South Africa.
Along the way, i hope to show you just how badly these living conditions are, i also hope to highlight the incredibly happy, friendly people whom make the most of this terrible situation.
I also plan to document and highlight the massive gap in living conditions across S.A.
My final aim is to merely raise awareness and hopefully attract some ideas and concepts for change and a way forward and how this can be achieved as a community.
In this episode i visit Imizamo Yethu Informal settlement in Hout Bay for a 3rd time, i had filmed there twice before, once almost coming under attack from the locals as they were suspicious of my intentions.
This time i was welcomed by the local community leader and those affected by the fire.
On 26 Dec. 2015 a fire broke out in Imizamo Yethu Informal settlement in Hout Bay, South Africa.
This is sadly a regular occurrence in our informal settlement's / townships.
Close to 600 homes burnt down, leaving about 1300 residents destitute and 1 person dead.
These people have lost EVERYTHING and as we spend our holidays celebrating, these folks are working day and night, in temperatures of 41 degrees celcius to try rebuild their homes.
They have NOTHING!!!
The community allowed me to film them to create this video in the hope that we can raise some awareness to their situation.
I hope to raise some funds and collect as much stuff as possible to assist them.
If you wish to get involved please contact: skyeyedrone@outlook.com or call / Whats App me on +27 84 30 444 84
ROBBEN ISLAND - IMIZAMO YETHU TOWNSHIP - CAPE TOWN
ROBBEN ISLAND
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for seal island. Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km². It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient erosion event. Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. To date, three of the former inmates of Robben Island have gone on to become President of South Africa: Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe, and current President Jacob Zuma.
Imizamo Yethu - commonly known as Mandela Park, is an informal settlement in the greater Hout Bay Valley area. The 18 hectare settlement houses approximately 33 600 people with little or no infrastructure for sustainable living. The settlement has dismal water facilities; there have very few toilets and no sewerage system. The Disa River which runs through this settlement has the highest level of e-coli bacteria that has ever been recorded in South Africa. The community living conditions were improved by the Niall Mellon Township Trust with their People's Housing Process in 2002. This non-profit organization based in Ireland sent volunteers to build several hundred basic homes for individuals in Imizamo Yethu. For tourists interested in learning the everyday lives of people in IY , residents provide tours of the preschool, day care, barber shop, auto shop, orphanage, grocery store and local pub. For a small fee, they can answer any questions and introduce you to many of the wonderful people who call this place their home. Many locals will also warmly invite tourists into their homes where they sell beautiful hand-made bead work and jewelry.
Robben Island is both a South African National Heritage Site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[4][5
Five privileged Hout Bay families spend 67 hours living at the Imizamo Yethu temporary site
CAPE TOWN, 17 July 2017. The families said they hope that leaving their comfortable homes will help to bridge the gap between rich and poor by encouraging open dialogue.
Imizamo Yethu informal settlement protests continue
03 July 2017 - The protest by residents at Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay continues. The main roads have been barricaded with burning tyres.
City of Cape Town threatens to stop rebuilding Imizamo Yethu
The City of Cape Town has threatened to walk away from the rebuilding process at Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay should the violent protests continue. Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has met with community leaders, after mayhem in the area over the past few days.
For more news, visit:
eNCA's Athi Mtongana speaks to Imizamo Yethu community members
he Hangberg and Imizamo Yethu communities in Hout Bay have been rocked by violent protests in the past year. Residents are demanding proper housing
Imizamo Yethu Township, Cape Town
I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (
Deadly fire razes part of Hout Bay settlement
More than 1,000 people were left destitute after the second fire in six weeks hit Imizamo Yethu, killing one and destroying hundreds of homes.
Hout Bay residents still disgruntled
Cape Town, 10 January 2016 - Residents in the Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay are having difficulty rebuilding their lives after a devastating fire. But little provision has been made for school children who've lost everything.
The Rubbble after Hout Bay Fire, South Africa
Filmed by Cape Town blogger Girl Unplugged -
Approximately 2,400 people have been left destitute after the huge fire which raged through Mandela Park in Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay Valley, South Africa.
--
SAPeople.com
facebook.com/SAPeople
twitter.com/SAPeople
instagram.com/SAPeople/
Imizamo Yethu residents demand proper housing
Residents from the Imizamo Yethu informal settlement near Hout Bay have served the City of Cape Town with yet another memorandum of grievances. Residents are demanding, amongst other things, proper housing and better living conditions. A fire that swept through the informal settlement almost a year ago left many without homes.
For more news, visit: sabcnews.com
Hout Bay, Cape Town South Africa
Hout Bay (Afrikaans: Houtbaai, meaning Wood Bay) is a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa situated in a valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, twenty kilometres south of the Central Business District of Cape Town. The name Hout Bay can refer to the town, the bay on which it is situated, or the entire valley.
When the Dutch established a colony in Table Bay in 1652, a vast quantity of good timber was required for construction, shipbuilding other purposes. There was no vast forest near the settlement, mainly because the rainfall was not high enough. It was soon apparent that the colonists would be able to fell wood they needed in the wetter valley that lay on the other side of a low pass (called Constantia Nek) between the southern end of Table Mountain and Constantiaberg. The area was initially made up of two farms, which were slowly subdivided to make way for urban expansion. While still maintaining its rural atmosphere, the city of Hout Bay has more than 12,000 residences inhabited by a population of about 42,000 people
After the fire: Two months after a devastating blaze, Imizamo Yethu residents rebuild their lives
It’s been exactly two months since Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay was ravaged by a runaway fire. Four people died in the blaze and thousands were left homeless. But in just eight weeks, city crews and community members have managed to rebuild some of what was lost. We paid the settlement a visit to see what progress has been made.
Click here to subscribe to Eyewitness news:
Like and follow us on:
Keep up to date with all your local and international news: ewn.co.za
Produced by: Cindy Archillies
More police officers to be deployed at Imizamo Yethu squatter settlement
Police Minister Fikile Mbalula says more police officers will be deployed at the Imizamo Yethu squatter settlement near Hout Bay in Cape Town.
Ongoing protests over housing in the settlement flared up again at the weekend and houses, an ANC office and business containers were set alight
For more news, visit:
Aftermath of Hout Bay Fire, Western Cape, March 2017
Filmed by Cape Town blogger Girl Unplugged -
Approximately 2,400 people have been left destitute after the huge fire which raged through Mandela Park in Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay Valley, South Africa.
--
SAPeople.com
facebook.com/SAPeople
twitter.com/SAPeople
instagram.com/SAPeople/
Imizamo Yethu residents defy court order of rebuilding their home
Some residents of Imizamo Yethu near Hout Bay have defied the City's court interdict preventing them from rebuilding. The City wants the land to be properly demarcated to prevent disasters such as fires.
About seven thousand residents lost their homes when a fire ripped through the settlement.
For more news, visit:
Devastation after fire in Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay
Devastation after big fire in Imizamo Yethu...
IY Imizamo Yethu Protest 2017
This video is about Imizamo Yethu Protest 2017