Community Profile – Sweet Home Farm

The following is an attempt to start a community profile for Sweet Home Farm (SHF).  This will in time include the following (all as summarised within The Warehouse Christian Social Transformation course):

– A Map of the community

– History 

– Population Information

– Physical Infrastructure

– The Natural Environment

– Social Characteristics

– Economic Characteristics

– Spiritual Characteristics

– Welfare

– Management Bodies

Summary

Sweet Home Farm is an informal settlement in Philippi East. Approximately 16,5 ha in size it is situated at the southern end of Duinefontein Road, bounded by the Nyanga railway line on the eastern side, Lansdowne Road on the northern side, and Vanguard Drive on the southwestern side. It lies adjacent to the suburb of Samora Machel on with Guguletu to the north, Browns farm to the East, Weltevreden Valley to the South East and the agricultural part of Philippi to the West.

Map 

The map below is courtesy of the City Maps (City of Cape Town)…

History

The following text comes from the Community Risk Assessment Report undertaken by the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, UCT,  July 2009. 

Sweet Home Farm was well known for many years as a dumping ground for builders’ rubble, and the first informal residents began earning a living by recycling dumped used bricks and selling them by the roadside. This activity continues today and is clearly in evidence on Duinefontein Road.  In 1992 a gradual influx of people began, and by January of the following year 52 dwellings were spread out over a large area. By May 1996 this had grown to 373 dwellings, and this number more than doubled over the next two years to 886. A survey undertaken by the City of Cape Town in July 2003 recorded 2 217 households and estimated that there were 7 045 people living in the settlement. Today there are reportedly over 17 000 people living in the settlement and the number of dwellings has increased commensurately to nearly 4000.
 
Initially there were no municipal services because much of the settlement was located on private land. However, the settlement continued to grow and as the density increased conditions worsened, especially during the winter months when flooding occurred.  Eventually the City was forced to take action and they negotiated to buy the land. They were able to purchase all but a large middle section and a thin piece of South African Rail Commuters Corporation (SARCC) land. Thus, today Sweet Home Farm is situated on a number of different erven, some private, some belonging to SARCC, but most on City land.  Negotiations with the private land owner failed completely and he refused the City Council permission to provide basic services on his land, maintaining that he wanted to develop the area, which reportedly has industrial zoning. However, SARCC willingly agreed to allow Council to provide services both on, and over, their land. After a report covering three informal settlements commissioned by the City, one of which was Sweet Home Farm, the City undertook a rudimentary services upgrade for the provision of “temporary and rudimentary services in order to maintain an acceptable degree of health and hygiene” (City of Cape Town project brief).