Today we headed to Khayelitsha for the second time. Our first being our experience with the program “Dine with Khayelitsha,” in which we ate dinner with residents living in this community and learned about their mission to bring outside residents into their township to suppress some of the negative stereotypes people living outside have. Today we returned to meet with the Social Justice Coalition, which works to advance the constitutional rights of everyone but especially those living in informal settlements. The SJC runs different campaigns based on education, research and advocacy. We were able to talk to several members of the SJC that were all in charge of different areas and branches that make up the coalition. This discussion made it very clear to me the issues that Khayelitsha has, and how the government is not doing nearly enough to alleviate any of the struggle.
The SJC’s mission began in 2008 when there was a public outcry surrounding the issue of service delivery. Companies that were responsible for handling sanitation were not monitoring and cleaning the bathrooms resulting The facilities are also just temporary, even though the land is suitable to be developed on. In 2016, they brought the sanitation case to court but today they explained how they are still waiting for a date in which they can appear in court.Khayelitsha, comprised of 204 informal settlements lack basic necessities and safe amenities which I think is a human right. Not only are the residents unsafe because of health risks, but also women and children are being robbed and raped when using the current facilities. What surprised me is that the government continues to spend money on temporary facilities, but will not install permanent and sanitary amenities for the residents. While talking to the members, it was very apparent that there is an extreme hesitation and unwillingness from the government to do just about anything. From not installing permanent bathrooms, to simply not releasing any information shows the extremity of the issue.
One part I found most interesting was speaking with the Safety and Justice department in which the correlation between social issues and crime was discussed. There is minimal trust between the police and the people, which may be the base of the issue. This leads to people not reporting serious crimes that occur. What stuck with me was the idea that when allocating the police force in communities, the community needs to be looked at instead of the population. I think spaces are all very different and need to be handled differently based on yes population, but also where the community is located, how advanced it is, and how likely crime is to occur. I realized that space and the resources it has can determine social factors within a community. Crime, which is a social issue, occurs in Khayelitsha for an abundance of reasons, but one reason the department continued to mention was the lack of lighting within the informal settlements. It was shocking that just one thing within this space made it easy for such bad crimes to happen. I now realize that physical space can coincide with social issues such as crime.
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