Townships:

Townships originated at the time of the Apartheid. The Afrikaner government declared more and more towns and villages to white-only areas. The black and coloured people were deported from their houses, often by force. Entire districts, where black and white had often lived together for many generations, were cleared and razed to the ground by bulldozers. Because the whites could not do without the workforce of the black, they built one-room houses for them not too far away. To prevent people escaping at the back side during the raids of the police, these houses only had windows at the front side, The blacks had to leave the towns or villages before sunset and only if it was necessary for their job and with special permission were they allowed to stay the night. 

Over time people, who came from the country with the hope of a better future, found themselved forced to live in squatter camps. In these camps, shacks are built by the people themselves from old planks, old sheets of corrugated iron, cardboard and blankets. Camps rarely have electricity, water or sewer systems.

Through survey investigations, it has been determined that 10% of township residents are disabled, 40% are single-parents, 65% are unemployed and 45% are infected with HIV/AIDS. There is an increased number of orphans since many people die as a result of AIDS and other HIV/AIDS related diseases like tuberculosis. Because there are many trucks passing Intabazwe, many young girls and women end up working as commercial sex workers, which further exposes them to the AIDS pandemic.

The fact, that most of the inhabitants of township are not or badly trained, causes the high percentage of unemployed people. At the time of the Apartheid the government introduced the systeem of bantu education. Basis principle of this system was, that the black population always would be in the service of the white population and would do unskilled labour. The government was of the opinion that the black population just should learn the things they would need to do this kind of jobs. The Apartheidsregime derived benefit from keeping the black people in ignorance.   

In this hut lives a family with 7 persons