An informal settlement in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photo by Robyn Murray
BUSINESS DAY – In a quiet neighbourhood near Johannesburg, a haphazard collection of shacks sits squeezed beneath the towering brick walls of two gated communities. Wedged in on a red dirt road that forms an alleyway between the secured developments, the settlements are held together by sheets of plywood, black garbage bags and a sky-blue tarp with small, plastic windows — a shelter for about half a dozen residents seated around a makeshift card table.
Stray dogs scrounge around their feet for scraps and two toddlers wander through piles of trash, coils of barbed wire and discarded cement blocks.
It is a singularly South African sight, but the problem behind it — rapid urbanisation and inadequate housing — is far more common globally.
Robyn Murray 