Equity Gap
Cape Town is a city alive with possibility. Despite its unrivalled beauty, dramatic landscapes, ocean views, rich history and culture, it remains riddled with intra-urban inequalities influenced by the strict racial segregation policies during the apartheid era.
One of the most tangible manifestations of inequality in Cape Town is informal settlements, which are unplanned areas without adequate shelter or infrastructure. Estimates vary greatly, but the Western Cape Provincial Government’s socio-economic profile of the city reports that, out of 1,135,000 households in 2021, 185,000 (14.1 per cent) were estimated to live in informal settlements.
Key Challenges
Income distribution highly skewed
The bottom 40 percent of the population holds 7 percent of income (compared to 16 percent for other emerging markets).
Intra-urban inequality
As with other South African cities, Cape Town is highly inequitable, its spatial structure generally still reflective of apartheid urban patterns
High unemployment
Unemployment in Cape Town has been increasing, from 18.3 per cent in 2011 to 29 per cent in 2021 (the latter figure likely exacerbated by the pandemic).
Education Gap
Many schools in more urban neighbourhoods have crumbling infrastructure, classrooms are overcrowded, poor sanitation, no furniture and learning materials arrive late to name a few.