from the Cape Times, 22 November 2010

This was reported during a housing dispute in Hangberg (another article here), a settlement in Houtbay, that is located behind the Hout Bay harbor. Basically this was a reaction to a forced removal that was happening, link here.

Hout Bay is an interesting space, a microcosm of the disparate and dislocated nature of South African cities.

Hangberg is a marginalized fishing community comprised mostly of Cape Malay people, that has been residing on the side of the Sentinel Mountain for some thirty years. Izamo Yethu aka Mandela Park is an informal settlement, the residents here are from rural parts of South Africa and up north continent, Malawi, DRC, Zimbabwe, Zambia. Mandela Park sprawls the slopes of the Hout Bay valley... and has probably existed for about a decade.

Then you have the rest of Hout Bay, mostly upper middle class and super wealthy. Mr Sol Kerzner basically owns most of Leeukoppie mountain there, his estate looks directly on to Mandela Park.

The backdrop to this conflicted space is a picturesque, anything but urban valley on the periphery of the Atlantic.