Siphokazi Vuso|Published
Cape Town's lowest-paid workers are spending more than a third of their travelling income towork, with the City's housing crisis leaving many unable to afford homes closer to their jobs.
A report by housing advocacy group Ndifuna Ukwazi, titled Public Land for People, Not for Parking found that the poorest 20% of commuters spend about 35% of their income on transport, compared with 10% among the highest earners. The report also estimates that someone commuting from Khayelitsha to the CBD could spend the equivalent of five years of their working life in traffic.
Leaving home at 4am just to get to work
Thembisa Yalezo, who travels from Philippi East to the city centre, has spent nine years commuting to work. She often leaves home as early as 4am.
“The area I live in is not safe. People have been attacked while going to work,” she said.
Octavia Grill, from Manenberg, has worked in the city for six years. A recent taxi accident has increased her fears about travelling.
“There was a terrible accident involving a taxi coming from Manenberg into town. Two people died in that accident. I have a child, so I worry a lot,” she said.
Banathi Khala, who lives in Delft and works as a security guard in the city, said commuters in his area often rely on a community police forum because of safety concerns.
He spends about R1 100 a month on transport.
City's housing crisis keeps workers far from jobs
Ndifuna Ukwazi’s head of political organising and campaigns, Buhle Booi, said the problem was rooted in decades of spatial planning that placed economic opportunities far from the communities that needed them.
“This is a spatial legacy, not an accident. Apartheid planning reserved well-located land for white people and pushed Black, Coloured and Indian residents to the periphery,” he said.
Booi said post-1994 subsidised housing had often prioritised the number of homes built over their location, while rents in well-located areas remained unaffordable.
He said the Western Cape’s average rent was R9 730, while a one-bedroom flat near Parliament cost between R12 000 and R18 000 a month.
About 76% of Cape Town residents earn below R22 000 a month, he said, while only 34% of formal homes are priced within that range.
Families pay price of long commutes
For many households, moving closer to work is therefore not realistic. Instead, workers spend more of their income and time travelling, leaving less time for family responsibilities and other needs.
Professor Stephan Krygsman, from Stellenbosch University’s Department of Logistics, said spatial inequality affected both households and the wider economy.
“Better, more equal cities manage to reduce transport costs. Poorly designed and unequal cities cannot absorb high transport costs and often suffer a development deficit,” he said.
Long commutes can also contribute to a mismatch between workers’ skills and the jobs they take, Krygsman said. Some people may accept work closer to home rather than pay the cost of travelling to jobs better suited to their qualifications.
He added that spending two to three hours a day commuting left workers with less time for childcare, shopping and other household responsibilities.
City's housing waiting list
Ndifuna Ukwazi’s Public Land for People, Not for Parking campaign has proposed redeveloping four state-owned sites in central Cape Town: the Parliament parking lot, Top Yard and two government garage sites.
According to Booi, the sites could accommodate 969 social-housing apartments, 969 market-related apartments and transitional housing for 732 people.
He said the developments could reduce commuting costs, improve access to jobs and increase foot traffic for informal traders.
Booi said at least 359 277 people were on the City of Cape Town’s housing waiting list. He added that the city projected an annual shortfall of between 22 970 and 27 980 formal homes.
“The city projects that 53% of the homes built between 2020 and 2040 will be informal,” he said.
The City of Cape Town said it was pursuing affordable housing through land releases, transport-oriented development and infrastructure investment.
Mayco member for Human Settlements Carl Pophaim said land parcels capable of yielding more than 14 000 affordable units were in the city’s active pipeline or project-packaging stage. A further 7 000-unit yield was estimated across land already awarded to developers.
The City has released land valued at R1.7 billion for affordable housing over the past two years, and says it has enabled more than R960 million in discounted land release, bulk infrastructure investment and incentives.
Pophaim said 39 sites were in the release pipeline, including 11 in the central business district, with a combined potential yield of 40 000 units.
The City says the pipeline includes 21 000 affordable housing units and 1 500 social-housing units.