Yesterday (8 May 2014) DUT lecturers, members of the public, academics from UKZN and various stakeholders attended the fifth seminar organised by the Urban Futures Centre (UFC) at DUT.
Held at the University’s ESBE Boardroom, L3, S4, S Block, Steve Biko Campus, yesterday’s presentation was delivered by Professor Richard Ballard who spoke about gated communities in KwaZulu-Natal.
His presentation:The sugarcane frontier: governing the production of gated spaces in KwaZulu-Natal, gave an overall insight into the dynamic runnings of such communities in which developers involve home buyers at a very early stage in order transfer some of the risk that goes with producing a home to the new buyers.
Professor Ballard has a background in Geography and has interests in a variety of social science researches. He has worked on issues such as industrial change, urban desegregation, white identity, local democracy, urban social movements and refugees. From 2002 to 2005, he project manager for a large project on social movements in South Africa which resulted in the 2006 edited volume entitled: Voices of Protest.
“Vacant land is very hard to find around Hillcrest and other Durban areas. Most of the areas that are now gated communities are referred to as ‘legacy areas’-meaning an area which had a certain domination of people who had been previously oppressed and removed due to the apartheid regime, “ he said.
Prof Ballard reiterated that the issue of the gated community and social identity in South Africa is not new. Much has been written about it and through the presentation, he also spoke about his findings, in particular the manner in which developers strategise and trap home owners into purchasing homes without knowing the history behind it and are therefore ill- informed about what they are buying.
“The developers are using the buyers to access leverage. Developers don’t pay for the land, they trap the home owner into thinking that they are buying the land but in actual fact the home buyers are purchasing shares and not the home,” he added.
Prof Ballard is constantly doing research relating to urban social justice and urban inclusion in the post-apartheid era.
One of the attendees, Faith Ka-Manzi from UKZN, questioned the issue of why the rich keep buying land from the unsuspecting poor when there is not much land available. All in all, the presentation was well-received and debated.
– Philiswa Xulu
Pictured: Prof Richard Ballard addresses the relationship between gated communities and social identity in South Africa.
