Nkandlagate: Only Partial Evidence of Urban African Inequality Ruvimbo Moyo

Nkandlagate: Partial Only

Evidence of African Urban

Inequality

Ruvimbo Moyo

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Nkandlagate:

Only Partial nce of Evide Were we really shocked by the R246 million (US$24 million) upgrade to South African Pres- ident Jacob Zuma's Nkandla residence? It was not a new concept. It was not a new architec- African ture. In the “Secure in Comfort” Report by the Public Protector of the Republic of South Afri- Urban ca, Thuli Madonsela investigated the impropri- ety in the implementation of security measures on President Zuma’s private home. 1 Madonse- la found ethical violations on the president’s part with respect to the project: his fam- quality ily benefited from the visitor center, cattle Ine kraal, chicken run, amphitheatre and swim- ming pool among others, built in the name of security. The president also violated the Ex- ecutive Ethics Code after failing to contain the cost when the media first reported the 2 1 then R65 million project in 2009. So-called Madonsela, T N. 2014. Secure In Com- “Nkandlagate” did not move from the Afri- fort: A Report of The Public Protector. can political norm that says loud and clear: Investigation Report 25 of 2013/14, Pub- lic Protector South Africa.

2 Rossouw, M. 2009. "Zuma's R65m Nkandla splurge." Mail & Guardian. December 04. Accessed 12 29, 2014. http://mg.co.za/article/2009-12- 04-zumas-r65m-nkandla-splurge.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Opulence is an acceptable perk for our leaders, a craving, an urge, a right. This duality of extreme wealth against extreme poverty has existed since colonial Africa, a discrepancy that is only increasing. Nkandla itself, where Zuma’s residence is located, has a population of 114,416, an unem- ployment rate of 43.9% with only 16.7% of the households having piped water and 8.1% with flush toilets. 3 Considering the claims of corrup- tion, exploitation of public funds and a required relocation of neighbouring households at the states expense, the presence of this spectacle in Nkandla is a clear representation of the differ- ence in rights offered to members of the population based on wealth and power. The built environment provides a canvas to portray the tragic relationship between power and the dying promises of the leaders of the continent. In his book Architecture and Power in Africa, architectural historian Nnamdi Elleh poses the following question:

Is it possible to evaluate the urban aspirations of Africa’s postcolonial leaders employing the same paradigms and standards with which we evaluate the urban aspirations of colonialist conquistadors? 4

Urban planning and design was a vital tool in colonial political and social control, seen in apartheid urban planning. Today, it is the same tool still being used by neo-African leaders. Social housing typologies from the period of imperialism are re-used by our gov- ernments. These “clones” are usually located 3 in townships away from the city center, at Statistics South Africa. 2011. Nkand- the periphery, reducing access to economic la Municipality. Accessed 07 08, 2014. http://beta2.statssa.gov.za/?page_ id=993&id=nkandla-municipality.

4 Elleh, N. 2002. Architecture and Power in Africa. Westport: Prae- ger Publishers.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 opportunity because of the distant location paired with public transport systems that are ineffi- cient, expensive and sometimes non-existent. 5 This disempowers a proportion of the population and yet it is still the quickest solution for the state. 5 The inefficiencies stated include Juxtaposed with the clones of apartheid-era that of congestion due to an in- architecture, a new typology has emerged in crease in private car usage, high contrast: the African “eco-city.” 6 The third world accident rates, high cost of transport due to traveling distances that has become a playground for developers with disempower the marginalized com- the creation of utopian eco-cites: Eko Atlantic munities (both rural and urban), City (Lagos, Nigeria); Konza Technology City, poor safety and security that de- ters people from using the public billed as “Africa’s Silicon Valley” (Kenya); and Ki- transport, limited access for per- gali City Masterplan, by OZ Architects and Sur- sons with special needs, increas- bana Urban Planning Group (Kigali, Rwanda), ing backlog in infrastructural main- tenance and the lack of formalized to only name a few. These developments are institutional arrangements to as- usually located in the urban periphery of Afri- sist in coordination and delivery ca and promise functional, technologically rel- on an integrated transport man- date. Western Cape Government. evant cities. Kigali Conceptual Master Plan was 2011. “Increasing Access to Safe and pitched by strategic planner Thomas E. Wheel- Efficient Transport.” Western Cape er as “an exemplary master plan that truly ad- Government Public Information. dresses the vision and development needs of 6 an emerging city such as Kigali.” 7 “Eko Atlan- This term targets the new urban tic,” according to the city’s sales office, “will master plans in Africa. These plans are often created by global proper- enhance the status of Lagos and create a new ty developers and called “eco-cities” and stronger financial hub for the whole of or “smart-cities” to target a rapidly West Africa.” 8 Even city masterplanners are growing middle class emerging from Africa's economic growth. Watson, V. explicit about strategies to separate the new 2013. “African Cities: The new Post- cities from the existing. Referring to Amboseli colonialisation. Lecture at the Bart- New Town in Kenya deputy director of Metro- lett Development Planning Unit at Uni- versity College London (Recorded by politan Planning and Environment, Dan Kiara, Bell, J).” Future Cape Town. 03 06. Ac- stated: “The idea is to disperse the current cessed 09 12, 2014. http://futurecape population from the current city of Nairobi. town.com/2013/04/future-african-cit ies-the-new-post-colonialisation/. With fewer people in the city, it will be easi- er to provide services for those who remain in 7 the capital while establishing new economic OZ Architecture. 2013. Kigali Master Plan. Accessed 12 29, 2014. http://ozar ch.com/portfolio/kigali-master-plan/.

8 Eko Atlantic Sales Office. 2012. Eko Atlantic. Accessed 07 08, 2014. http://www.ekoatlantic.com/.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 zones with specific themes.” 9 Yet while these cities may represent the dreams and ideals of the growing African middle class and reflect economic activity on the continent, they ignore their context. These eco or “smart-cities” promote, sponsor and urge the inequality gap in Africa, with many still living in poverty and informal settlements. The new developments set an urban aspiration of exclusion reminiscent of colonial jurisdiction. Like Zuma’s Nkandla residence, they in fact reveal the skewed distribution of resources in which opulent architectural products can only be en- joyed by an elite few. Nkandlagate, which caught the attention of the media and public, in fact represented how urbanism in post-democratic Africa expos- es the impact of government strategies. These strategies promote economic growth favoring a private sector while disregarding increasing poverty and inequality. Two examples expand on this condition. First, marginalized housing conditions that do not improve on historical injustices are outlined and compared to South African apartheid era housing policies that de- nied a “non-European” population the right to democracy. Second, the recently constructed Nova Cidade de Kilamba, a housing development in Angola, will be explored to represent trending idealistic developments that disre- gard the complexities of the continent including urban layout, informal settlements and economic realities. These developments are a deterrent to solving the housing issues in Africa as they promote microeconomies that once again exclude the poor. The peripheries

9 Muiruri, P. 2014. "Coming soon: Kenya’s world class metropolis." Standard Digital News. 10 23. Accessed 12 29, 2014. http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/evewoman/m/?arti cleID=2000139159&story_title=coming-soon-kenya-s-world-class-me tropolis&pageNo=3.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 of old and new African cities become an omni- present, regenerating restrictive zone that deny many rights to the city.

I. South Africa's Housing Policies

Consider the realm of social housing in South Africa for the evolution of housing policies and schemes to illustrate the current urban problems within the region. Today, a growing population, increasing urbanization rate and low housing delivery rates have attributed to a housing backlog in South Africa that reached 2.1 million units in 2013, a deficit that affected 8 million people. 1 0 To make up for this backlog, housing structures for fast, easy and inexpen-

10 sive construction have been constructed by the SAPA. 2013. “Housing Backlog Stands state with the former Minister of Human Set- at 2.1 million – Sexwale.” City Press. tlements, Mosima Gabriel “Tokyo” Sexwale, ac- 06 07. Accessed 12 29, 2014. http:// www.citypress.co.za/news/hous- knowledging, “We should admit we started on ing-backlog-stands-at-2-1-million-sex a wrong foot. These Reconstruction and Devel- wale/. opment Programme (RDP) houses that people

11 are saying are falling [down], not a good job SAPA. 2010. “SA in ‘Haiti-like’ Situa- was done there.” 1 1 tion.” News24. 01 28. Accessed 07 28, Legislation undergirded these issues. Pre- 2014. http://www.news24.com/South- 1 2 Africa/News/SA-in-Haiti-like-situa 1994, the National Party, South Africa’s gov- tion-20100128. erning party from 1948–1994, did not consider housing a white state problem, 1 3 although 12 Referring to the period under the Na- it did claim some responsibility as the so- tional Party before the first democrat- cial system could not exist without the black ic election on 27 April 1994 in South working class. In 1924 the Industrial Concil- Africa. iation Act 11 was passed providing a basis 13 for more orderly conduct in labor relations “Africans had themselves to blame for but only for “skilled” industrial labor, namely their endemic housing crisis because they had been expanding too rapidly without acquiring the resources to satisfy their most pressing needs.” Hedler, P. 1991. “The Housing Crisis.” In Apartheid City in Transition. Contemporary South Africa Debates, by M Swilling, R Humphries and K Schubane (Eds), 197–217. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, p 199.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 unionized white workers, while excluding the pass-bearing black citizen from being considered an “employee.” Subsequently, this laid a founda- tion for dual systems in labor relations, white and non-white systems, with a large gap between “skilled” and “unskilled” wages. Housing had to be constructed with the required exper- tise, in effect increasing rental costs within poor areas where the non-white population resided. The government had to find a solution to this problem as they could not expect commu- 14 nities to fund or provide housing. 14 In 1959 law The Annual report of the Central Housing Board stated, “The success was passed for the independence of rural areas, of the policy of segregation in ur- or “homelands,” set aside for the black popu- ban areas may be said to depend on lation. 15 As there was no possibility for a uni- the fact that the provision of housing for natives in the locations does tary state in South Africa, this independence not become too heavy a burden on attracted the black population to their allocat- the general body of ratepayers. In ed land away from urban areas. The housing view of the wages generally earned by Africans it is impossible that the supply to the townships where non-whites re- ratepayers can be relieved altogether sided thus decreased because of laws that only of the burden but if the cost of pro- considered the black population deemed “per- viding accommodation is to be increased to any extent it will be im- manent” to the city, ignoring the reality of the possible to require the local commun- growing township population. ities to carry out the necessary mea- These townships “mediated the political sures with which alone the policy of the Government may be made effec- and social exclusion of African people upon tive.” U.G.19. 1926. “The Annual Report which both national and urban orders depend- of the Central Housing Board.” in Elias, ed,” thus they were investigated and devel- C. 1984. A Housing Study: Legislation and the Control of the Supply of Ur- oped with intentions of control and surveil- ban African Accommodation from Open lance by the state resulting in marginalized SALDRU Publications Repository. 04 13- low-cost solutions with inadequate quali- 19. Accessed 08 01, 2014. http://www. 16 opensaldru.uct.ac.za/bitstream/han ties on a domestic scale. The concept of the dle/11090/260/1984_elias_ccp157.pd “right to the city” that views the city as inclu- f?sequence=1. sionary, reflecting human rights and empow-

15 ering on a socio-political and cultural level Promotion of Bantu Self-Government was non-existent in such a scheme. Act. Of these housing types, the National

16 Robinson, J. 1992. “Power, Space and the City: Historical Reflections on Apartheid and Post Apartheid Urban Orders.” In The Apartheid City and Beyond. Urbanization and Social Change in South Africa, by D Smith (Ed), 292–300. New York: Rout- ledge, p 294.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Building Research Institute (NBRI) developed designs from architect Douglas Calderwood’s 1951 thesis “Native Housing in South Africa,” that explored housing options for “Non-Europeans” (NE) in apartheid South Africa. 1 7 The NE/51 houses outlined a series of units from the 1951 thesis

17 and identified each type with the correspond- Calderwood, D. 1953. Native Hous- ing drawing number as it appeared in the doc- ing in South Africa. Thesis, Johan- ument (Fig. 1). The houses met the authority’s nesburg: The University of the Wit- watersrand. low standards and enforced a uniformity by lim- iting plot sizes and replicating the same typolo- 18 gy, leading to streets continuing for up to eight Local training of architects began at Witwatersrand in 1923. This first identical units in length (Fig. 2). To contrast, group of architects made a mark in- the Non-European housing architectural trends ternationally adhering to modern- at that time must be considered. 1 8 Modernism ist ideals heralded by Le Corbusier who celebrated them for bringing a and later Regionalism prevailed in South Africa new consciousness that fit the new as architectural styles offering choice and cre- “melting pot” that is the world. Af- ative autonomy. Young architects in the coun- ter World War II students graduating from Witswatersrand and Pretoria try were in the vanguard of an architectural (established 1943) preferred expres- evolution being recognised for their housing sionist modernism influenced by the developments and consideration of context in- “Brazil Builds” exhibition and publi- cation with the term “Little Brazil’ ternationally. However, these projects were used to describe buildings in 1950s limited to a select few. The designs and their and 1960s southern Africa. The ar- locations were inaccessible to the majority. chitecture typically consisted of lou- vres, brises-soleil and sun-guards. Apartheid restrictions were extended in 1950, The style evolved to what is termed assigning different racial groups into respec- Regionalism, a variant of modernism tive residential and business zones. 1 9 This was that considered local materials, tech- niques, traditions and climate. Deep followed by the Native Laws that reduced the recessed or screened windows, shut- number of non-whites who were allowed to ters, wide eaves, downpipes, verandas, permanently reside in urban areas, declar- and pergolas were implemented. Ste- phen Sennott, R. 2004. Encyclopedia ing their urban residence a privilege and not of 20th Century Architecture. New York: a right. 2 0 Taylor & Francis Group. Documentation and revision of urban

19 black housing in the Cape Peninsula revealed Group Areas Act No 41. poor physical conditions in the sector. 2 1 Ten- ants seldom took initiative to alter housing 20 Amendment Act of 1952.

21 Granelli, R, and R Levitan. 1977. Urban Black Housing. A Review of Existing Conditions in the Cape Peninsula with some Guidelines for Change. Claremont: David Philip Publishers.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Fig 1. The NE 51/9 scheme—A standard three bedroom house. (Calderwood, 1953: 31).

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Fig 2. Row house layout comparision. Case A does not have a communal open space while Case B incorporates green space. (Calderwood, 1953: 63).

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 because they could not discern if they were per- mitted to by authorities that had promised to finish construction at a later stage. The houses they were to finish did not have ceilings, doors, floor- ing, plastering or kitchen sinks and no electric- ity with most having external toilets some dis- tance away. There was not great variation in the standard house, but the materials used for construction decreased in quality over the years. This was shown in the rapid aging of the new- er homes that took no time to resemble houses that had been built many years before. By 1975, an increased housing backlog paired with overcrowding resulted in the creation of squatter camps, inhabited by those waiting for housing delivery. Shantytown “self- help” housing reflected the government’s failure to deliver services to an excluded population. 22 This population sought to exist independently outside the imposed legislation that had failed them and was the physical manifestation of claiming rights to the city, rights to have equal access to healthy, secure facilities and economic opportunity. Given this history, one would expect housing schemes today to adequately address a public right to the city post-1994. 23 Between 1992 and 1994 the National Hous-

22 ing Forum, comprised of private and public or- This form of housing is often described ganizations, discussed the opportunities that as the most widely practiced form of lay in the housing sector for the new govern- housing delivery in developing countries. It is a delivery system that com- ment. This process contributed to the drafting prises action taken by an owner and/ of the White Paper in 1994, which sought to: or his family with respect to planning, financing and construction of a dwell- Create viable, integrated settlements ing, usually occurring spontaneously in where households could access opportu- informal settlements but can also occur in formal settlements. NBRI. 1987. Na- nities, infrastructure and services, with- tional Building Research Institute. Low Cost Housing Report, Pretoria: Coun- cil for Scientific and Industrial Research.

23 Referring to the period under the African National Congress after the first democratic election on April 27, 1994 in South Africa.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 in which all South Africa’s people will have access on a progressive basis to: A perma- nent residential structure with secure tenure, ensuring privacy and providing adequate protection against the elements; and potable water, adequate sanitary facilities including waste disposal and domestic elec- tricity supply. 2 4

The Growth Employment and Redistribution Pro- gram (GEAR) that followed was set to run as the macroeconomic scheme redistributing economic opportunity to those disadvantaged by the previous legislative system. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) for state subsidized housing sought to fulfill thisMONUMENT through delivering quantitative (and notIN qualitative) solutions, offering large numbersCOMMEMORATION of housing units to meet the basic need of the public while trying to fulfill promises of oneOF million houses in five years and affordablePROF. homes DR. for allA. DE FROE, 24 by 2003. 2 5 The effects of1907–1992 this was a post-1994 In Section 4.2 of the National De- South African government that produced large partment of Housing, “White Paper: A New Housing Policy and Strategy quantities of housing on land purchased by an for South Africa” (1994). apartheid state withHANS its own ideals of segregation. 25 VAN HOUWELINGEN Knight, R. 2001. South Africa: Eco- Pertaining to problems with RDP hous- nomic Policy and Development. 07. ing, the National Department of Housing 2 6 Accessed 12 29, 2014. http://richard noted, “Housing delivery has had a limited im- knight.homestead.com/files/sisaecon omy.htm. pact on poverty alleviation and houses have not become the financial, social and econom- 26 ic assets as envisioned in the early 1990s.” 27 Now The Department of Human Set- tlements. Other problems manifested through the high cost of the housing (because of a high un- 27 employment rate) and the relinquishing of Tissington, K. 2011. “Socio-economic Fig. 1 2 8 Rights Institute of SouthDr. A. Africa. de Froe, A Re- 1930s. housingPhotographer structures. unknown. The Minister of Human source Guide to Housing In South Afri- ca 1994-2010.” Urban Landmark 02, p 61.

28 172 Some owners choose to sell their houses, preferencing informal settlements located in closer proximity to economic centers and employment opportunities. van Houwelingen

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23 Referring to the period under the African National Congress after the first democratic election on April 27, 1994 in South Africa.

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The Growth Employment and Redistribution Pro- gram (GEAR) that followed was set to run as the macroeconomic scheme redistributing economic opportunity to those disadvantaged by the previous legislative system. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) for state subsidized housing sought to fulfill this through delivering quantitative (and not qualitative) solutions, offering large numbers of housing units to meet the basic need of the public while trying to fulfill promises of one million houses in five years and affordable homes for all 24 by 2003. 2 5 The effects of this was a post-1994 In Section 4.2 of the National De- South African government that produced large partment of Housing, “White Paper: A New Housing Policy and Strategy quantities of housing on land purchased by an for South Africa” (1994). apartheid state with its own ideals of segregation. 25 Knight, R. 2001. South Africa: Eco- Pertaining to problems with RDP hous- nomic Policy and Development. 07. ing, the National Department of Housing 2 6 Accessed 12 29, 2014. http://richard noted, “Housing delivery has had a limited im- knight.homestead.com/files/sisaecon omy.htm. pact on poverty alleviation and houses have not become the financial, social and econom- 26 ic assets as envisioned in the early 1990s.” 27 Now The Department of Human Set- tlements. Other problems manifested through the high cost of the housing (because of a high un- 27 employment rate) and the relinquishing of Tissington, K. 2011. “Socio-economic 2 8 Rights Institute of South Africa. A Re- housing structures. The Minister of Human source Guide to Housing In South Afri- ca 1994-2010.” Urban Landmark 02, p 61.

28 Some owners choose to sell their houses, preferencing informal settlements located in closer proximity to economic centers and employment opportunities.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Settlements set aside a budget to go back and re- pair inadequately built RDP structures. The White Paper advocated for community involvement within housing delivery. In 1998 the People’s Housing Process (PHP) was employed, existing with other schemes already undertaken. The PHP scheme required financial or labor con- tribution from the potential homeowners. 29 Al- though the prospective homeowners could take part in the building of the home as a “self-help” initiative, their input was not included in the urban scheme—the location of the structure and the urban pattern of area—and the actual load of housing delivery relied heavily on the poor. Housing numbers built throughout this process sharply decreased by 2007. 30 The Breaking New Ground Policy (2004) included a program specifically devoted to the upgrading of informal settlements with a target to eradicate all informal settlements in the country by 2014. It also acknowledged the need to have a qualitative approach to housing in the face of a growing housing backlog explor- 29 ing sustainable technologies as well as deliv- The former Minister of Housing, Sankie Mathembe Mahanyele stated: “Our no- ering on the right to the city by giving peo- ble intentions of providing basic shel- ple different housing types and a choice of ter to the poor have also promoted location. Despite this ambition, the N2 Gate- total dependency on the state.... Sav- ings and sweat equity contributions by way pilot project received negative reviews prospective homeowners, which have of poor design and material finishes. Further, not been encouraged enough, are now it brought on matters of illegal evictions and the central thrust of our subsidization programme.” Ministry of Housing. April occupations: the Symphony Way Pavement 2002. “Budget Speech By Housing Min- Dwellers were forcibly evicted from the N2 ister Sankie Mathembi-Mahanyele to Gateway houses after the illegal approval of the National Assembly.” in “The Urban Sector Network's Experience.” Built En- occupation by Councillor Frank Martin. The vironment Support Group. eviction deemed them squatters and forced them to move to a notorious temporary relo- 30 The PHP policies were later replaced by the Enhanced People's Housing Process in 2008 that proposes solutions with more flexibility and choice. Tiss- ington, K. 2011. “Socio-economic Rights Institute of South Africa. A Resource Guide to Housing In South Africa 1994–2010.” Urban Land- mark 02.

#(% Moyo

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 cation area in Delft, Cape Town nicknamed Blik- kiesdorp (Fig. 3, 4). 3 1 Poor delivery in the realm of social housing was exemplified by the uproar and protests resulting from the installation of 1,316 unenclosed toilets in the informal settlement of Makhaza, Cape Town in 2011. 3 2 The government has not de- nied the difficulties it faces in confronting the housing problems of the country. Tokyo Sexwale has stated, “South Africa is dealing with a Hai- ti-like situation every day,” comparing the informal settlements in the country to post-earth- quake conditions in Haiti 2010. 3 3 These South African settlements have endured fires, floods and disease, and have increased from 300 settlements in 1994 to more than 2,600 settlements in 2010. 3 4 The deconstruction of physical and psycho- logical inheritance within the housing sphere is a difficult undertaking. The issues of land ac- quisition, poor service delivery and sanitation, and the use of hoary housing models that do not provide adequate solutions riddle a continent that suffers from inherited colonial lay- outs and an apparent inability to escape their re-use. Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Uganda, Guinea, Rwanda, Sierra 31 Blikkiesdorp is Afrikaans for “Tin Can Leone, only to name a few, experience hous- Town”. ing delivery shortages, backlogs, and a large population of slum dwellers. These countries 32 Mail & Guardian. 2011. City of Cape seek policy after policy in a trial-and-error Town Loses Open-Toilet Battle. 04 29. process to address housing issues similar to Accessed 08 01, 2014. http://mg.co.za/ those in South Africa but cannot escape the article/2011-04-29-city-of-cape-town- loses-opentoilet-battle/. mass-cloning effect of housing typologies from a colonial era. Despite high econom- 33 ic growth rates exhibited by some in recent SAPA. 2010. "SA in 'Haiti-like' Situation." News24. 01 28. Accessed 07 28, 2014. http:// www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/ SA-in-Haiti-like-situation- 20100128.

34 Ibid.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Fig 3. A view of metal shacks in Blikkiesdorp, Cape Town. Photograph Mads Nørgaard.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 Fig 4. A view of toilets in Blikkiesdorp, Cape Town. Photograph Mads Nørgaard.

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35 macroeconomic policy gaps and a disproportion- On the IMF 2011 forecast of the ate focus in addressing poverty. 35 Government world’s fastest growing econo- approval of personal as well as private sector de- mies, seven of the top ten are African. Yet, “Macro-level econom- velopment is opulent in the face f oa neglected ic growth, as measured in the na- poor.

II. Nova Cidade de Kilamba, Angola

tional accounts (NAS), does not Consider the Angolan context: Twenty to thir- automatically translate into sim- ty thousand people are estimated to have been ilar growth in average household living standards.” The Economist. evicted from their homes between 2002 and 2011. Africa's Impressive Growth. 2006 from informal settlements on the out- 01 11. Accessed 09 19, 2014. http:// skirts of Luanda for the “beautification” of the www.economist.com/blogs/daily- 36 chart/2011/01/daily_chart?fsrc=scn/ area and to make room for new development. tw/te/bl/dailychartafrica#. In addi- Kilamba Kiaxi, or the Nova Cidade de Kilamba tion, see: Ravillion, M. 2013. "How (New City of Kilamba) is a new housing devel- Long Will it Take to Lift One Billion People Out of Poverty?" The World opment that can accommodate five hundred Bank Research Observer, Vol 28 (Is- thousand people yet very few can afford it, re- sue 2), 139-158, 08: 139–158. sulting in poor property sales. 65.8% of the

36 urban population of Angola lived in slums in Martins, P. 2007. "They Pushed Down 2009. 37 The US$3.5 billion project built through the Houses: Forced Evictions and In- Chinese-Angolan economic ties is a mixed- secure Land Tenure for Luanda’s Ur- ban Poor." Human Rights Watch. 05. use satellite town consisting of 750 eight-sto- rey residential apartment buildings, a dozen 37 schools and over a hundred retail units. 38 UN. 2012. "Slum Population as Percent- age of Urban." United Nations Mille- Angola possesses 8% of the world’s oil nium Development Goal Indicators. reserves and provides 15% of China’s oil im- 07 02. Accessed 07 28, 2014. http:// ports. 39 China began its involvement with An- mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/seriesdetail. aspx?srid=710. golan infrastructure finance in 1992 following the end of the Angolan Civil War with rail and 38 power structural restoration. In 2004 a line Redvers, L. 2012. "Angola's Chinese-built Ghost Town." BBC News Africa. 07 02. of credit with the Export and Import Bank of Accessed 07 08, 2014. http://www.bbc. China (China Exim Bank) that promotes for- com/news/world-africa-18646243.

39 Alden, C, and C Alves. 2009. "China and Africa’s Natural Resources: The Challenges and Implications for Development and Governance." SAIIA Occasional Paper No 41: Governance of Africa’s Resources Pro- gramme. 09.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 eign trade, allowed an initial deal of US$2 billion given out in two equal installments between 2004 and 2006 in return for 10,000 barrels of An- golan crude oil per day for seventeen years. This deal came with a public tender agreement, giving 70% of construction and civil engineering contracts to state-approved and state-owned companies. 4 0 Such resource-backed financing is dubbed “Angola mode”. In 2007 anoth- er US$2 billion loan through China Exim Bank 40 was approved while in 2006 Angola agreed to a Executive Research Associates. loan with the China International Fund for in- 2009. China In Africa: A Strategic 4 1 Overview. 10. frastructural development. Cidade de Kilamba was built by the China International Trust and 41 Investment Corporation (CITIC), although the Ibid. scheme is believed to have been conceived by 42 the China International Fund. 4 2 Redvers, L. 2012. "Angola's Chinese- The project was also set to partially fulfill built Ghost Town." BBC News Af- rica. 07 02. Accessed 07 08, 2014. Angolan Presidents Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-a pledge to provide a million new houses. With frica-18646243. massive stress on infrastructure within Luan-

43 da (over population in the city combined with Ibid. damaged infrastructure following the Angolan Civil War), construction had to be considered 44 An estimated 60% of the population outside the city. Cidade de Kilamba is orthog- lives in cities with three-quarters in onally planned, similar to the colonial mod- “musseques” (“red sands” or informal ernism deployed in 1950s Luanda. The new city settlements). “These informal settlements were built by internally dis- was built over three years, grouping repeti- placed people who during the war tive multi-colored blocks to allow for rational years had been attracted by the cap- infrastructural construction of water supply, ital, mainly because it promised sta- bility and economic security after the power and treatment plants. However, initial colonial war began in 1961. They ini- prices of units in the development—between tially occupied areas surrounding the $125,000 and $200,000 4 3 —did not consider city centre, but as the population was 4 4 continuously growing, the musseques the social context of the African country, were sprawling to more peripheral ar- leaving the development largely unoccupied eas.” Moreira, P. 2009. "Modernism vs after the project’s first release in 2011. 4 5 In Capitalism in the City of Red Sand and Black Gold." University of Pretoria.

45 CNN. 2013. "Kilamba: New Initiatives Create Massive Demand." CNN iReport. 04 11. Accessed 07 07, 2014. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/ DOC-954602.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/thld_a_00065 by guest on 26 September 2021 2013, subsidized apartment costs dropped between $70,000 and $190,000, allowing the ghost town to fill up. 4 6 Along with this development, many other countries have put forward heavily marketed and rendered promises of new cities: Kigali in Rwan- da has a proposal of New Kigali, Hope City in Ac- cra Ghana, Konza City in Kenya, King City in Gha- na, Eko Atlantic in Nigeria, Tatu City in Kenya, La Cite du Fleuve in Democratic Republic of Con- go and Kigamboni in Tanzania only to name a few. Foreign developers and designers are largely responsible for these new urban and architectural proposals. They are the new trend, operat- ing as large gated communities that provide an escape from the existing urban condition of inadequate infrastructure, tapping into a global network of smart-cities. “In South Africa, housing policy should translate the transformative project of the Con- stitution into concrete mechanisms that lead to a more equal society,” wrote South African academic Marie Huchzermeyer. 4 7 In the end, Nkandlagate only represents a broader trend of using typologies that marginalize and exclude rather than promoting the development of experimental, contemporary and progres- 46 Ibid. sive ideas that do not limit construction to the same materials, the same area, and the 47 same indignity. Architectural, urban and so- Huchzermeyer, M. 2003. “Addressing Segregation Through Housing Policy cio-political explorations by the state to ad- and Finance.” In Confronting Frgmen- dress these issues could create “liberty, free- tation. Housing and Urban Develop- dom and the benefit of the city life for all,” 4 8 ment In A Democratising Society, by M. Huchzermeyer, & M. Mayekiso, P. Harri- ideals implied by the concept of the right to son (Eds), 211–224. Cape Town: Univer- the city that extend to mobility, adequate sity of Cape Town Press. housing and sanitation. Such explorations

48 UNESCO. 2014. “UNESCO New Delhi Of- fice. Right to the City.” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Accessed 09 17, 2014. http://www.unesco. org/new/en/newdelhi/areas-of-action/social-and-human-science s/right-to-the-city/.

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