Author(s): Sakiel A Monama, Ngoako J Mokoele, Koena D Mokgotho
The South African land use allocation during the colonial and apartheid era was predominantly discriminatory as it placed white people in close proximity to the city. Spatial planning was used as an instrument to allocate different land uses, which consequently placed black, Indian, and colored people in townships. Twenty-seven (27) years into democracy, the spatial arrangements of all South African cities remain fragmented. Urbanization has increased the demand for housing and transport system. However, the current spatial land use distribution in South African cities has demonstrated that many blacks and colored’s have long-distance daily travels from the township to the cities. The distance between cities and townships makes it difficult to foster integrated transport plan implementation. Furthermore, the rural-urban migration has resulted in the densification of people in urban areas. Consequently, the rate of urbanization and flawed spatial planning has contributed to multiple challenges in urban areas such as urban sprawl, high unemployment, and poverty. The rapid increase of population in cities means more demand for spatial distribution, whereas the available space in cities is not enough to cater for the existing population. Nevertheless, the government itself is failing to provide infrastructure and services in pace with the population growth in cities. Again, population growth resulted in squatter camps and informal settlements which become more difficult for spatial planners to bring new spatial developments. This paper is purely conceptual as it relied on the extensive review of literature to discuss spatial fragmentation in South African cities, focusing on apartheid planning imprints and the spatial arrangement of different land use activities within a physical setting. Furthermore, considering the existing spatial planning issues in cities, the paper has also criticized the government's response in combating spatial inefficiencies. The paper concludes that the South African government still has a long way to go in correcting the spatial inefficiencies imprinted in the country's geography by the apartheid planning.