South African Urban Areas Research Articles

Ambrosia (Ragweed) pollen - a growing aeroallergen of concern in South Africa

BackgroundRagweed is an invasive, highly allergenic weed predicted to expand its habitat with warming global temperatures. Several Ambrosia species have been identified in South Africa for well over a century, however, its presence remained undetected by allergists and aerobiologists until the development of an extensive aerospora monitoring system across South African urban areas since 2019. This paper presents the inventory of preliminary investigation of the Ambrosia airborne pollen and the taxonomic identification of ragweed species. MethodsBurkard volumetric spore traps for collecting pollen samples are set up in nine South African cities (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Kimberley, Durban, Potchefstroom, Ermelo, Bloemfontein and Gqeberha). Light microscopic identification was combined with environmental DNA metabarcoding analysis to confirm the species level of airborne Ambrosia at selected monitoring stations. Ragweed sensitization was examined in Cape Town between February 2019 and February 2024, using Allergy Xplorer (ALEX2) multicomponent allergen array. ResultsAmbrosia pollen was detected in five aerobiological monitoring stations over the sampling period (Durban, Kimberley, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Johannesburg). Periods of four consistent pollination years were observed in Kimberley (min: 1; max: 16 p.g/m3) and Durban (min: 26; max: 66 p.g/m3). In Pretoria, ragweed pollen was detected for two years (2020-2021; 2022-2023) with average total annuals (5-17 p.g/m3). A peak flowering period between March and April was observed in Potchefstroom, and several ragweed pollen peaks were present between the end of December and the beginning of May in Durban. The highest number of Ambrosia pollen grains was recorded in Potchefstroom, with 308 grains, and a maximum peak of 47 p.g/m3. eDNA metabarcoding confirmed the presence of Ambrosia artemisiifolia and A.trifida species. The overall prevalence of Ambrosia-sensitisation amongst 673 tests (age range 7-72 years) was 8.2% (55/673), with no significant difference in sensitisation patterns between age groups. ConclusionOur study confirms the need to monitor the spread of ragweed, and an increasing awareness of Ambrosia as an allergen of concern in Southern Africa. Extension of aerobiological networks and testing for Ambrosia sensitisation across urban and rural sites will be required.

House of Hunger

Abstract In South Africa, the politicisation of COVID-19 widened structural fissures, unearthed underlying inequalities, and exposed the ‘rainbow nation’ fallacy. The pandemic highlighted the struggles faced by marginalised households whose income streams were wiped out during lockdown. Public unrest emerged in townships and manifested as food protests, which undermined the perception of South Africa as a food secure country. Whilst the state and mainstream media dismissed these protests as criminal incidences, a contextualised analysis exposes the desperation of certain groups’ experiences of hunger and disillusionment in Black South African townships. Framing ‘food as political’, this paper interrogates the weaponisation of food by the government, which violently used state security forces to subdue marginalised populations. The paper draws on Dambudzo Marechera’s 1978 novella House of Hunger to condemn the gendered and militarised state response to ‘starving black bodies.’ It exposes the ruthlessness of how the state worked with mainstream media to protect corporate capital and foreign investments in the name of ‘security’ and ‘wellbeing,’ and explores the ultimate ‘logic’ of food protests in South African urban areas. In conclusion, the paper argues that the mainstream media hyper-visualised Black bodies as unruly, criminal, and therefore disposable, in order to dismiss their human right to food.

Perceptions of external costs of dust fallout from gold mine tailings: West Wits Basin

Mining is important for the South African economy, as it is for many developing African nations. In 2017, mining was reported to contribute 6.8 % to the South African GDP and provided more than 460, 000 jobs. Though mining adds an enormous amount of value to the country, it has significant impacts on the environment and the socio-economic factors of society. The well-documented environmental impact of mining operations on surface and groundwater systems, known as Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), is just one of these environmental impacts. There are also other impacts such as the pollution of agricultural soils, the creation of sinkholes and air pollution. For example, airborne dust remains a persistent problem in South African urban areas due to the climatic conditions, extensive surface mining, unrehabilitated tailings storage facilities and mineral processing. However, very little is reported on the socio-economic costs that are due to poor environmental management. Some scholars assert that despite the Mine Health and Safety Act, deposition monitoring guidelines and national dust regulations, South Africa still experiences persistent dust problems, especially in coal and gold mining districts. This paper investigates the effect of gold mining dust pollution in and around a Gold Mining Village, in South Africa. A quantitative and qualitative approach was used, where a questionnaire and interviews were conducted to examine the Gold Mine Village perceptions on dust pollution and their socio-economic environment. This paper further examines how poor and premature mine closure by liquidation results in unrehabilitated mine tailings and how this has significant impacts on the socio-economic status of individuals and surrounding businesses. The community being investigated in this study, perceives the dust fallout impact to be a socio-economic threat. The paper finds that the community believes it incurs medical financial expenditures due to treating respiratory-related diseases triggered by dust fallout.

Normative Influence on Household Waste Separation: The Moderating Effect of Policy Implementation and Sociodemographic Variables

Background: With the increasing production of domestic waste in South African urban areas, household waste separation has become a crucial recycling activity for better management of domestic waste and a decrease in environmental pollution. Focus of the article: This empirical study investigates how normative influences can shape the intention to separate household waste and how these influences are moderated by sociodemographic attributes and upstream social marketing interventions (recycling policy implementation). Research Hypotheses: The hypotheses stipulate that descriptive, injunctive, and moral norms have an influence on the behavioral intention to separate household waste before disposal. Policy implementation and sociodemographic variables moderate the impact of these normative forces on behavioral intention. Methods: A cross-sectional design was applied to this study. A survey was administered to collect quantitative data from 350 households residing in a city that is currently implementing a mandatory recycling policy (Johannesburg) and from 349 households in a city that is not doing so (Tshwane). Structural equation modeling and moderation analysis were the main data analysis techniques applied to this study. Results: The findings underline the importance of injunctive and moral norms in influencing the intention to separate household waste. Gender and age appeared to play an important moderating role in the relationships between norms and behavioral intention. Policy implementation had no effect on the reported influences of social and moral norms on the intention to separate household waste. Recommendations for Practice: Policy makers in emerging markets are encouraged to apply more persuasive and decisive actions such as financial incentives (or disincentives) that will motivate households to comply with recycling policies. Limitations: One limitation of this study is the application of a cross-sectional design relying on self-reported measures of norms and behavioral intention.

Health-seeking behaviours of older black women living with non-communicable diseases in an urban township in South Africa.

BackgroundVarious studies have shown that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) especially diabetes and hypertension are prevalent among older women living in South African urban areas, placing a heavy burden on the healthcare system. This study aimed to understand the health-seeking behaviour, healthcare practices and prevalence of traditional herbal medicine (THM) use among older women self-reporting NCDs from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study (PURE).MethodA homogenous purposive sampling of PURE participants was used to recruit women who were 50 years or older (n = 250). Descriptive statistics were used to examine the number of NCDs reported by the study sample, health seeking behaviour and practices as well as THM use. Logistic regression was also employed to investigate possible associations between reported conditions and THM use or medical pluralism.ResultsWithin the study sample, 72 % self-reported an NCD. Of those with self-reported NCDs, 46 % had one, and 54 % had two or more NCDs. Those with NCDs usually visited public clinics (80 %), relied on doctors (90 %) and nurses (85 %) for health information, and mostly used conventional medicine (CM) to manage high blood pressure (81 %). About 30 % of those with NCDs indicated using THM, of whom 29 (53 %) reported practicing medical pluralism. Participants with dental problems (OR: 3.24, 95 % CI: 1.30–8.20), headaches (OR: 2.42, 95 % CI: 1.24–4.94), heart burn (OR: 2.30, 95 % CI: 1.18–4.48) and severe tiredness (OR: 2.05, 95 % CI: 1.08–3.99) were more likely to use THM. Anxiety and allergies increased the likelihood to practise medical pluralism by five and 20 times, respectively.ConclusionSelf-reported NCD with co-morbidities was prevalent among the participants in the study. Most of the study participants utilized state-owned clinics and hospitals for the management of their chronic conditions. THM use was not very common. However, among those who used THM, medical pluralism was prevalent. Family history was the most common reason for THM use, with many THM patrons utilizing these for treatment of a health condition. Older black women with anxiety and allergies were more likely to practise medical pluralism.

Urban Compaction and Densification in Bloemfontein, South Africa: Measuring the Current Urban Form Against Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality’s Spatial Planning Proposals for Compaction

Bloemfontein developed in a similar manner to most South African cities in terms of its informants of historic urban form as well as past and current spatial development policies. It therefore exhibits an urban form very similar to other South African cities and consequently faces the same challenges to achieve compaction as most South African urban areas. The paper ascertains the level of compactness and densification achieved in Bloemfontein against proposals for achieving compactness made by its spatial frameworks. To do this, the paper uses the 2001 and 2011 South African Population Census data to develop an index of densification, intensification and compaction using Burton (Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 29:219–250, 2002)’s framework for freestanding compact cities.

A follow-up cross-sectional study of environmental lead exposure in early childhood in urban South Africa

Lead exposure has significant detrimental effects on the health and wellbeing of children. In resource-poor countries, information on the extent of lead exposure is often inadequate owing to the lack of surveillance and screening programmes. To determine the degree of lead exposure in children residing in South African urban areas. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in schools in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Kimberley in 2007 - 2008. Blood lead levels were assessed in a total of 1 349 grade 1 children using the LeadCare Analyser system. Parents completed a structured questionnaire on sociodemographic profiles and risk factors to provide information about socioeconomic status and other risk factors for lead exposure. Blood lead levels ranged from 0.8 - 32.3 μg/dl. The mean blood lead level in the total sample was 7.97 μg/dl; 74% had blood lead levels ≥5 μg/dl. The highest proportion (84%) of children with blood lead levels ≥5 μg/dl was in Johannesburg. In the multivariate analysis, socioeconomic status was significantly associated with blood lead levels ≥5 μg/dl. Lead exposure in South African urban areas remains widespread. The risk of lead poisoning in some areas and certain groups of children may be increasing despite the phasing out of lead-containing petrol. Children living in poverty continue to be the most vulnerable.

Looking beyond the urban poor in South Africa: the new terra incognita for urban geography?

The past two decades have seen the development of a rich body of scholarship focusing on South African urban settlements. An extensive narrative has emerged on the changing spatialities of the broader urban system, but the representation of South African urban areas remains surprisingly incomplete. The overwhelming majority of research deals with aspects of urban poverty and aims at informing policy and implementation responses that can provide an alternative urban future – with seemingly limited success.The contention in this paper does not challenge the notion that elevated levels of urbanising poverty represent a future development trajectory of the so-called “real African cities” to which scholars like Pieterse refer. However, such an observation requires considerable refinement in the South African urban context. The growing number of urban residents is not necessarily poor. In fact, the number of relatively wealthy, in Africa generally and South Africa in particular, is rapidly expanding. It is the contention of this paper that, while there might be a moral imperative to investigate poor urban lives, there is similarly an empirical and theoretical obligation to investigate beyond the urban poor. The paper argues that the current imbalance in urban scholarship, focusing too heavily on the urban poor, allows the relatively wealthy to reproduce urban spaces as they please, with little scrutiny from scholars and policy makers. It suggests that, as long as we do not take the realities of these “other” urban dwellers seriously, there is little hope of addressing the fragmentation of the urban form and exclusion of the poor so typical of South African cities. Although existing scholarship aims to integrate currently fragmented cities, ignoring those who are not poor could lead urban scholars to implicitly reinforce South Africa's dualistic cities.

Vulnerability of male commercial sex workers to HIV/AIDS

This paper presents a study of male commercial sex workers (CSWs) and their vulnerability to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). There is scanty information related to male CSW in South Africa. This may be attributed to the fact that there are few studies done on male CSW compared to that of female CSW. The study on male CSW was carried out in Arcadia and Sunnyside suburbs of Pretoria. The male CSW may be linked to poor and mobile populations that are normally at risk of becoming infected with HIV. The research indicates that, the male CSW practice is becoming more visible in South African urban areas. Vulnerability to HIV and AIDS is associated with among other things prostitution. It is recommended that the current HIV and AIDS interventions and education should also cover male CSW.

Towards Facilitative and Pro-poor Land-Use Management in South African Urban Areas: Learning from International Experience

Few would argue with the proposition that land-use management is one of the most powerful tools in the context of planning, both in South Africa and internationally, with the potential to transform the urban landscape. Yet despite its potential, it has been neglected both in terms of academic enquiry and legislative reform. This has resulted in land-use management functioning as an undesirable and unwieldy tool that perpetuates the modernist ideals of land-use separation and sprawling suburbia, and most worryingly, the perpetuation of an urban form that is essentially anti-poor. This paper initiates a search for the appropriate criteria for a land-use management system in South Africa’s urban areas. We argue for a land-use management system that moves away from the traditional exclusive emphasis on zoning towards a more flexible system based on a tiered set of plans. This system must take into account and respond to the dynamics of the urban land market, both its formal and informal dimensions, and directly address the poor and their needs as the central focus of land-use management.

The financial impact of HIV/AIDS on poor households in South Africa

Rising mortality rates caused by HIV/AIDS in South Africa have substantial and lingering impacts on poor households. This is a descriptive paper using a new dataset of daily income, expenditure and financial transactions collected over a year from a total of 181 poor households in South African rural and urban areas. One of the key pathways through which HIV/AIDS impacts on household wellbeing is through the socioeconomic impacts of death, which this dataset is especially useful in quantifying. The key impacts of death on households are funerals and the loss of income. Funerals often cost up to 7 months of income. Nearly all households in the sample attempt to cover such costs by holding a portfolio of funeral insurance. Despite these efforts to insure against funeral costs, 61% of households are underinsured against the cost of a funeral. Nearly half the sample households are dependent on a regular wage earner, and another quarter are dependent on a grant recipient. Eighty per cent of these households would lose over half of their monthly income should the highest income recipient in the household die. Even by selling liquid assets, only one third of the sample households would be able to maintain their pre-death living standards for a year or more. Death poses substantial and lingering burdens from the funerals that surviving household members need to finance and the ongoing loss of income once brought into the household by the deceased. These costs pose so great a threat to households that they dominate household saving and insurance behavior.

Greywater reuse: A strategy for water demand management in Harare?

Greywater is wastewater from baths, sinks and washing machines, accounting for about 60% of the outflow from homes. It contains little pathogens and 90% less nitrogen than toilet water, so does not require the same treatment process. With the increasing demand for freshwater, its use may reduce irrigation water needs, increasing its availability of freshwater for other primary uses. Agriculture is the main water consumer in Africa, which cannot be compromised due to its role in domestic food security and export supplies. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate findings of the research done on benefits of greywater reuse in some countries, applicable to African countries. In Australia, greywater reuse has reduced freshwater demand, strain on wastewater treatment plants and energy consumption. Aquifer recharge has improved due to increased infiltration flows from greywater uses. In Lebanon, greywater is a valuable resource for encouraging plant growth from nutrients that may otherwise have been wasted. Palestine shares similar climate and water scarcity conditions with most arid sub-Saharan African countries, yet utilizes grey water in production of crops and citrus fruits. Thus use of grey water should be possible in African cities such as Harare, where nearly two thirds of the population rely on agriculture for livelihoods. The problem of blue green algae in sewerage ponds and water reservoirs is significantly reduced by household reuse of grey water in Mexico. Water savings are increased and expenses reduced, as illustrated by the reduction in consumption of municipality freshwater supplies in South African urban areas. Rural communities and schools in Namibia and Egypt have raised funds from grey water reuse in banana plantations. A possible constraint to this strategy could be the unavailability of appropriate technology for primary treatment of grey water before reuse. This strategy may pose health risks where water quality tests are unknown or unavailable but can be overcome through educational campaigns. Supporting data and evidence on safety and benefits of grey water is required to achieve regulatory approval of grey water use.

A short comparative history of wells and toilets in South Africa and Finland

This paper describes the technological development of wells and toilets and the cultural practices related to them in two countries, South Africa and Finland, from the Middle Ages to modern times. Wells and toilets have always been linked to the well-being of humans and they still are the most common technical systems in the service of mankind. They are simple to build, but if they are constructed improperly or stop functioning properly, they may endanger the health of both humans and the environment. The solutions used for getting clean water or for disposal of excrement have always been a matter of life and death for human settlements. Located on opposite sides of the world, the climate and natural resources of South Africa and Finland are very different. However, surprisingly similar solutions, for example wind turbines to pump water, have been used in rural areas. Furthermore, urbanization and industrialization occurred in both countries at approximately the same time in the 19th century, which caused increasing environmental problems in Finnish and South African urban areas. The transition to modern water supply and waste disposal systems was a very demanding process for municipal administrations in both countries.

‘I'm too young to die’: HIV, masculinity, danger and desire in urban South Africa

In the South African urban areas of Atlantis and Khayelitsha, men and boys see gang membership and violence (including gang-related violence) as part of ‘being a man’. In this context, life itself is perilous and vulnerable. This article draws on the narratives of boys about their lives, and explores some key questions relating to gender, development and HIV. These include: how are men's and boys’ ideas about sexuality created, and what does this suggest about the kinds of HIV interventions that should be offered? In particular, how does the reality of everyday life in urban South Africa affect male perceptions of risk in relation to HIV/AIDS? And how can men and boys best be targeted in HIV prevention and treatment work?

Designing the interface: the role of urban design in reconstructing apartheid villages, towns and cities

To highlight the role that urban design can play in mediating the bringing together of urban activities that have been isolated from one another over the past 40 years. This process is not confined to the physical and spatial, although this is where the process is most obviously experienced, but embraces the social, economic, symbolic and spiritual as well. A key issue in this process will be mediating between the edges or gaps of the many urban interfaces, for example, between: land-use activities; differences in levels of living between communities; ecological processes; and sensitivities in the urban land market. The paper will also show that the schisms that must be healed are not due only to apartheid, but also in some measure to the adoption of modernist town planning principles, which were best practiced throughout the world in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The paper will briefly describe the centrifugal urban forces of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, built on the twin pillars of apartheid ideology and modernist town planning, which pulled South African urban areas apart. It will then sketch the current contradictory socio-political context in which reconstruction and restructuring are being attempted. Highlights will include the fact that concerns about urban quality are heard at the highest level, including the President's opening of Parliament speeches. Lowlights will describe how urban aspirations, previously governed by racist issues, are now being replaced by classist concerns. This has resulted in recently developed urban environments in the new South Africa being little different to the old. The main body of the paper will include a range of urban design principles and illustrate their application in a number of case studies. These case studies are notable for the extreme and contradictory positions that stakeholders have taken around redevelopment. The paper will conclude with thoughts on how urban design, in particular, detailed physical design and realistic three-dimensional (3-D) illustrations, can play a crucial role in allaying the fears of Councillors and major stakeholder groups and create supportive conditions for projects that will heal the interface.

Men with Cookers: Transformations in Migrant Culture, Domesticity and Identity in Duncan Village, East London

This article is concerned with understanding current transformations in migrant culture and identity in South African urban areas. It approaches the topic by revisiting Philip and lana Mayer’s classic study of migrant culture and identity in the Duncan Village township of East London. The article uses the their work as the starting point from which to construct a detailed historical analysis of the tranformations in amaqaba migrant culture in the city from the 1950s to the mid-1990s. The first part of the paper attempts to show that the Mayers greatly underestimated the resilience of this cultural form in the face of far-reaching social and political change in East London. In documenting the survival of amaqaba culture well into the 1980s, it focuses not only on the external forces that shaped migrant responses to change, but also on the internal social dynamics and relations that facilitated cultural reproduction. The second part of the paper is devoted to an analysis of the decline of amaqaba culture as a rural resistance ideology in the city in the late 1980s and its reconstruction as an urban resistance ideology predicated on the defence of particular urban spaces, identities and power relations. The paper concludes by considering the significance of the analysis for the understanding of migrant identity politics in South Africa.

Analysis of the spontaneous vegetation of intensively managed urban open spaces in the Potchefstroom Municipal Area, North West Province, South Africa

This report forms part of a research programme on spontaneous vegetation in urban open spaces in the North West Province, South Africa. The spontaneously growing vegetation of intensively managed sites such as parks, pavements and parking areas was investigated, using numerical methods. The numerical classification technique, TWINSPAN was used for analysing the floristic data as a first approximation and then the data were refined by using Braun-Blanquet procedures. The result is a phytosociological table where ten communities, four sub-communities and two variants, most of them representing undescribed vegetation types for South Africa, were recognised. Associated gradients in habitat and different human impacts are identified by using an ordination algorithm (DECORANA). This is one of the first studies on synanthropic vegetation in South African urban areas and should contribute to our knowledge of the ecology and biology of plant invasions in intensively managed areas.

Racial land zoning in urban South Africa

The imposition of the policy of apartheid upon South African urban areas after the National Party electoral victory in 1948, led to profound changes in spatial planning and population distribution. All urban places were zoned with sectors set aside for the mutually exclusive ownership and occupation of legally defined racial groups. Between 1950 and 1991 over 1 million hectares of urban land were zoned in racial terms. Massive population movements took place to fit the population to the plans, which had built-in disparities between groups in access to urban land. Even with the repeal of this legislation, South African cities exhibit the heritage of apartheid planning, with the racially defined zones still apparent in the urban form.

Mdantsane, East London's homeland township: Municipal neglect and apartheid planning 1949?1988

South African urban areas, because of structural control exercised within them, have developed unique characteristics. One of the more distinctive features of urban apartheid is the creation of Homeland townships lying adjacent to certain of the country's towns and cities. This paper seeks to explore the essential motivation underlying the creation of the ethnically distinct urban centre of Mdantsane in the Ciskei Homeland between 1949 and 1988. The reason for the development of Mdantsane, a dormitory township of East London, are explored, as are the primary issues underlying its emergence. In order to fully investigate Mdantsane's evolution it is essential not to divorce the township from developments, through time, in East London. The impact of apartheid planning on the East London region is assessed.

The struggle for the streets: Deregulation and hawking in South Africa's major urban areas

Until the 1980s hawkers in South African urban areas were subject to a wellentrenched tradition of repression and persecution. A changing dispensation towards the informal sector is crystallizing as part of the State's urban reform initiatives. This study investigates current issues surrounding the deregulation of street trading in five major South African cities, viz., Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. Considerable geographical variations emerge in the strategies and extent of deregulation between these centres. The findings on hawker deregulation illustrate the important limits which may be imposed on urban reform policies by the local State in South Africa..