Khayelitsha () is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for New Home.Lelyveld, Joseph (15 June 1983). Cape Town Blacks' "New Home": Segregated in Sand The New York Times. Retrieved on 11 February 2025 It is reputed to be one of the largestNew, Assertive Women's Voices in Local Election by Erna Curry, 29 January 2011 and fastest-growing townships in South Africa.
History Cape Town initially opposed implementing the Group Areas Act passed in 1950, and residential areas in the city remained unsegregated until the first Group Areas were declared in the city in 1957. When Cape Town finally started implementing the Group Areas Act, it did so more severely than any other major city; by the mid-1980s, it had become one of the most segregated cities in South Africa.
Plans to build Khayelitsha were first announced by Dr Piet Koornhof in 1983, then Minister of Co-operation and Development. By 1985, the suburb Site C had 30,000 people. Khayelitsha was one of the apartheid regime's final attempts to enforce the Group Areas Act and was seen as the solution to two problems: the rapidly-growing number of migrants from the Eastern Cape, and overcrowding in other Cape Town townships.
The discrimination and black population control by the apartheid government did not prevent black people from settling in the outskirts of Cape Town. After the scrapping of pass laws in 1987, many black people, mainly Xhosas, moved into areas around Cape Town in search of work. By then, many black people had already illegally settled in townships like Nyanga and Crossroads. In 1983 and 1984, conditions in squatter camps like Crossroads and KTC worsened, and were exacerbated by official policing policy, in which homes were destroyed, and also by the emergence of the Witdoeke, led by "Mayor" Johnson Ngxobongwana. The Witdoeke were actively supported by the apartheid government in its fight against the ANC-aligned UDF, which had actively opposed plans for people to be moved to the new township of Khayelitsha. As the black population grew, the apartheid regime sought to solve the "problem" by establishing new black neighbourhoods. Khayelitsha was established in 1985 and large numbers of people were forcefully relocated there, mostly peacefully but occasionally with violence.
The Western Cape was a preference area for the local coloured population, and a system called "influx control" was in place to restrict Xhosas from travelling from the Transkei by requiring a permit. After the historic 1994 elections, hundreds of thousands moved to urban areas in search of work, education or both. Many of them erected shacks made of tin, wood and cardboard.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, Khayelitsha has a population of 391,749. In 2018, according to Dr Gio Perez, Chief Director for Metro Health Services, it is estimated the population has grown to just under 500 000 people. There is a lot of controversy around Khayelitsha demographics data, with some inaccurate claims that it is inhabited by in-between 1M and 2.4M people.During a commission of inquiry in 2014, Prof. Charles Simkins, a leading South African demographer who served on the Statistics Council for a decade, defended the census data and its methodology which evaluated that the number of inhabitants was between 370 000 and 426 000 in 2011. With the support of Prof. Jeremy Seekings, and by corroborating this data with the numbers of paid social grants provided by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), they concluded that their figures should be accepted as “substantially accurate”.“The Khayelitsha Commission: commission of inquiry into allegations of police inefficiency and a breakdown in relations between saps and the community in Khayelitsha”, 2014, p 35-38
https://www.westerncape.gov.za/police-ombudsman/files/atoms/files/khayelitsha_commission_report_0.pdf
The ethnic makeup of Khayelitsha is approximately 99.5% Black African, 0.47% Coloured and 0.03% White, with Xhosa being the predominant language of the residents. Khayelitsha has a very young population, with fewer than 7% of its residents being over 50 years old and over 40% of its residents being under 19. In 2011, around 62% of residents in Khayelitsha were rural to urban migrants, most coming from the Eastern Cape. In the communities of Enkanini and Endlovini, over 85% of the residents were born in the Eastern Cape.
About 75% of residents identify themselves as Christian, and about 20% follow traditional beliefs; a small minority of residents identify themselves as Muslim.
Khayelitsha is one of the poorest areas of Cape Town, with a median average income per family of R20,000 (US$1,872) a year, compared to the city median of R40,000 (US$3,743). Roughly over half of the 118,000 households live in informal dwellings.
Area: Population: 391 749: Households: 118,809:
GenderPopulation% Female 170,908 51.95 Male 158,094 48.05
RacePopulation% Black 327,322 99.49 White 87 0.03 Coloured 1,556 0.47 Asian 33 0.01
First languagePopulation% Zulu 1,176 0.36 Xhosa 318,389 96.77 Afrikaans 2,297 0.7 Northern Sotho 135 0.04 Tswana 427 0.13 English 784 0.24 Sotho 4,753 1.44 Tsonga 61 0.02 Swazi 348 0.11 Venda 117 0.04 Southern Ndebele 155 0.05 Other 361 0.11
Conditions Khayelitsha is one of the top five largest slums in the world. Since the ruling ANC came to power in the country in 1994, the party claims that living conditions in the township have improved markedly. There have been many developments, such as new brick housing and new schools being built and the creation of a central business district in the township. However, many residents strongly dispute the claim that the quality of life has improved and claim that crime rates remain very high and that only a few residents see improvements as a result of infrastructure and welfare interventions. The Khayelitsha Commission was established by the provincial government to investigate allegations of inefficient policing in Khayelitsha and a breakdown in the relationship between the police and the community.
Around 70% of residents still live in shacks, Around 53% of Khayelitsha's total working-age population is employed. The five most common forms of employment are domestic work (19.4%), service work (15.2%), skilled manual labour (15.2%), unskilled manual labour (11%) and security services (10.4%). Some 89% of households in Khayelitsha are either moderately or severely food insecure.
The 2001 census recorded that two thirds of residents lived in shacks. By 2011, the number of people living in formal housing had increased to almost half of them because of roughly 25,000 new houses being built between 2001 and 2011.
in 2013, on New Year's Day, the township experienced a fire that resulted in the deaths of three people, with 4000 residents being left homeless as their shacks were burned to the ground. In March 2020 the Khayelitsha tavern shooting took place in the area resulting in 7 deaths and 7 injuries.
Geography Khayelitsha is located on the Cape Flats, between Table Bay and False Bay.
Subdivisions
Khayelitsha has been split into about 22 areas, depending on how one divides them. It is made up of Makhaza, Kuyasa, Harare, Makhaya, Town Two, Ilitha Park, Site B (consisting of the newer K-Z sections) and Site C. Khayelitsha is made up of old formal areas and new informal/formal areas. The old formal areas were built originally by the apartheid government and are known as A-J sections also called 'Khayelitsha' proper (each section with more or less than 500 formal two roomed brick houses) Bongweni, Ikhwezi Park, Khulani Park, Khanya Park, Tembani, Washington Square, Graceland, Ekuphumleni and Zolani Park. These areas are mostly made up of bank bond housing and are home to middle-class / upper working class populations.
The newer areas have been built up around the older areas. They include Site B (which is further subdivided into the K-Z sections in continuation of the original A-J sections respectively and TR, QQ, RR and BM informal settlements), Site C, Green Point, Litha Park, Mandela Park, Makhaza, Makhaya and Harare. With the exception of Litha Park, these areas contain a high number of informal settlements, RDP houses, and informal backyard dwellers.
Notable informal settlements in Khayelitsha include QQ Section, TR Section, RR Section and Enkanini which have gained prominence due to their high-profile conflicts with government including protest actions such as road blockages.
Economy Khayelitsha has a small but growing middle class with a total of 1,400 households earning more than R25,000 a month in 2011. That is a large increase since 2001, when almost no households earned over R25,000 a month.
The growing number of entrepreneurs in the township are ably supported by organisations such as the Patrice Motsepe Foundation and Caban Investments (through their Qinisanani initiative) and HubSpace.
As Cape Town's largest township, Khayelitsha attracts funding from international aid agencies. A number of partnerships with international companies, governments and NGOs have been set up:
A successful initiative at Ikhwezi Lesizwe Primary School has brought company support for technology. The UK based Ramesys have donated software and kit to allow for good web communications. Smart Technology from Canada have donated an interactive whiteboard. Another such group based in Zion, Illinois, US, is Partners Across the Ocean, which has brought Khayelitsha high school learners to the US and built a computer lab in Khayelitsha. The South Africa Community Fund has been active in the neighbourhood of Harare, Khayelitsha, bringing groups of students from Arizona State University and other volunteers for home stays and community immersions.http://www.southafricacommunityfund.org VPUU began as a partnership between the City of Cape Town, the German Development Bank (KfW) and the community of Khayelitsha in September 2005. The partnership has since been extended to include the Western Cape Government, National Treasury, international agencies, NGOs, CBOs and other communities. Co-funded by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the City of Cape Town, National Treasury, other public and third party funding and implemented by AHT Group AG and Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood (SUN) Development Pty Ltd. In April 2013, VPUU NPC was established to implement VPUU in the Western Cape.VPUU (Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading) is responsible for the building of community centres and gardens, and the sponsorship of soccer clubs. Khayelitsha was also the focus of the Community Exchange System when it launched in Cape Town. Canadian organisation Golden Future South Africa volunteers in secondary schools in Site B. Within the schools, this organisation facilitates conversation on the topics of health, life orientation and education. Outside the schools, a business group aids local businesses in legitimising their establishments. Grassroot Soccer is a South African non-profit organisation that integrates the cross-cultural appeal of soccer with evidence based HIV prevention and life skills programmes that provide youth in Khayelitsha, as well as other parts of Africa, with the knowledge, skills and support to live HIV free. This organisation operates in Khayelitsha from the Football For Hope Centre, a community centre in Khayelitsha.