Children of Fire
Posted by AfricanTrumpet Admin | Posted in News, African News,
By Guy Mulvaney
This year as tourists flock to South Africa's 2010 FIFA World Cup they will experience one of the most beautiful countries in the World. But, sadly, behind the scenes vast numbers of South Africans are living in impoverished conditions in shanty towns called squatter camps or imijondolo.
Look out for Africa's largest shantytown called Khayelitsha which is 'spitting distance' from Cape Town International Airport. In all probability the pilot of your aircraft will be instructed to approach the landing from the opposite side. The authorities will attempt to obscure the eyesore settlements with colourful mega-size billboards welcoming foreign visitors and their currency, of course to the world's largest sporting event.
Shanty towns are not a unique South African feature. Brazil's favelas were famously exposed in the blockbuster film 'City of God.' In fact the United Nations Population Division indicated that there are one billion people or one-sixth of the world's population, living in shanty towns.
Rapid urbanisation is the main reason why these shanty towns arise. [Although South Africa is the most urbanised country in Africa an estimated 50 % still live in rural areas.] In the late 1990s, there was an explosive growth of shacks and shantytowns because the people in rural areas are streaming to the cities to find work. [During the apartheid era their movements were restricted.]
There are 3000 informal settlements in South Africa. In 1994, of South Africa's 44 million inhabitants, 7.7 million lived in these settlements.
However the numbers are reportedly growing rapidly. [The country had an urban growth rate of 4%.]
Analysts indicate that in developing countries, such as South Africa, the authorities have not been able to provide houses and basic services to keep pace with the growing urban population. This is proving to correct in SA.
In the South African context the reasons for the growth of these squatter camps is multi-dimensional. In 1994 the housing backlog was estimated to be 1.2 million homes for the black population.
The target was to build 250 000 dwellings per year or 1000 per day. Unfortunately a mere 10% of their target per annum has been achieved, leaving the country with a serious housing shortage.
Apartheid undoubtedly played a significant role in the crises.
For years, many black citizens were relocated from cities to the Bantustans which are situated in the rural areas. [Whilst developed countries were engaging in urban growth, the apartheid government was reversing a natural process.] Many of the current residents in the squatter camps are migrant workers from these former 'homelands' who have often left their families behind and have moved to the cities to find work.
A Shanty town is always built without a license. Since construction is informal and unguided by urban planning, there is a near total absence of any form of infra-structure including running water, electricity and sanitation.
Huge social problems are associated to them. Crime, diseases, drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution and high suicide rates. Shanty towns also tend to lack basic services present in more formally organized settlements, including policing, medical services, and fire fighting.
Fires are a particular danger for shanty towns because of the close proximity of buildings and flammability of materials used in construction. In addition, the houses are packed so tightly together that fire and ambulance crews can't get through to deal with the fire. In the South African context other factors also come into play. These include the usage of highly inferior paraffin wick stoves.
Because squatter camps are illegal dwellings it is difficult to obtain any accurate data about the number of fires. Michael Wessels, Africa Outreach Manager of NGO- Children of Fire, which specifically deals with victims in squatter camps, indicated that there were roughly 15000 severe burn cases South Africa has every year.
Disaster management is almost totally absent: Wessels refers to a recent fire in a section of Alexander where squatters have set up home.
'although the local authorities provided a small amount of assistance initially they are now no longer helping because they say this is an "incident" and not a "disaster" (disaster being when municipality can no longer handle it), but in our view the municipality is doing next to nothing so we are pushing them to re-assess and classify it as a disaster then get the relevant funding.
It seems like organisations like Children of Fire are the only ones caring for this forgotten people. The NGO's main focus is rehabilitating severely burnt children. Often this includes sending them for specialized help abroad. They also conduct community awareness campaigns to educate residents how to take preventative measure to avoid burn incidences and the promotion of safe designs. Furthermore they are involved in disaster recovery.
7.7 million Squatters represent a significant proportion [16.7 %] of the South African population. In real terms, one out of every 5.9 people in South Africa is a squatter. To label fires, "incidents" is purely dismissively and heartless. Brazilians, on the other hand have pro-active, hands -on- approach to catastrophes in favelas. With reference to a case study of a fire in the Diogo Pires favela on the 12 October 2009 the authorities mobilized 26 fire fighters units and 75 troops. With an urban growth rate twice the size of Latin America and Asia, surely the approach should be the other way around?
