ITSHOKENG KEKANA | Exodus from townships to suburbs unintentionally weakens local economies

The origin oftownshipsin SA is deeply rooted in the segregationist policies that existed long before apartheid was established and formalised in 1948. Before then, governments had already begun structuring cities around racial separation through law and urban design. This was later intensified and systematised under apartheid through legislation such as the Group Areas Act, which enforced strict racial zoning in urban areas.

This system was not only about separation but about spatial control. It created cities in which black South Africans were positioned close enough to supply labour to urban economies but deliberately excluded from full participation in the urban core, where access to opportunity, infrastructure and mobility was structurally uneven. To acknowledge thatapartheid spatial planningcontinues to shape present-day inequality is not the same as reducing township residents to permanent victims of history.

Overemphasis on victimhood can obscure agency, flatten the diversity of lived experience and easily narrow the range of possible solutions Although townships were originally constructed as instruments of control and containment, there has been a shift towards permanent, functioning communities with the expansion of access to services. Though still uneven, they have since evolved into permanent, complex urban environments. Despite this evolution, the spatial consequences of their origin remain visible in the structure of South African cities today.

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This raises an important question about how we speak about townships and social mobility. There is a common narrative that associates success with “getting out” of township spaces, often implying that upward mobility is only legitimate once it is physically expressed through relocation. While this is understandable at an individual level, the framing becomes limited when applied as a general social prescription for everyone.

To an extent, mass movement out of townships presents serious spatial and economic constraints. Urban systems are not infinitely elastic. Large-scale relocation into already established suburbs would intensify demand and place additional strain on infrastructure and other services.

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