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First published March 2001

Urban Segregation in Post-apartheid South Africa

A.J. ChristopherView all authors and affiliations
Volume 38, Issue 3
https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980120080031

Abstract

An analysis of the results of the 1996 census reveals a general decline in urban racial segregation levels in South Africa since the end of legal apartheid in 1991. However, the trends are not uniform with Whites remaining both more segregated and less open to change than the other groups. Africans have become more integrated, but the majority are constrained in their choice of residential options by the general levels of poverty. Asian and Coloured people have witnessed the greatest changes, with significant declines in segregation levels in the majority of cities as they begin to return to the areas from which they were forcibly removed in the previous 40 years. However, segregation levels remain exceptionally high and rapid integration may require government intervention.

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1.
1. The index of segregation (IS) is defined as:
2.
where, X represents the total of sub-group X in the city; Z represents the total population of the city; xi represents the percentage of the X population in the ith tract; and zi represents the percentage of the total population in the ith tract.
3.
2. The average size of the 44 336 enumeration areas into which the urban areas included in this paper were divided was 481 persons. This compares with 690 persons in 1985. No comparable figure could be calculated for 1991, owing to the peculiar nature of the census in the African areas.
4.
3. The land restitution programme, aimed at restoring property rights to those who had lost them under racially based land laws, had achieved little in the urban areas by the time of the census in 1996. Thus no integrated communities had been reconstituted under the programme. The offer of financial compensation instead of land in the restitution process further reduced the possibility of recreating integrated suburbs.
5.
4. Between 1970 and 1991, the racial zoning of a census enumeration area was indicated in its number, making the calculation of totals for the various group and Black development areas relatively straightforward. Understandably, this practice was abandoned in 1996, making broad comparisons more difficult to determine.
6.
5. The Mann-Whitney U test for significance was adopted for comparisons between the index levels in different provinces, and different urban forms.
7.
6. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated for paired urban attributes, and its significance assessed using a z score.
8.
7. The Asian-Coloured index of dissimilarity in KwaZulu-Natal (71.1) was one of the lowest intergroup indices in the country and reflected earlier patterns. In 1985, it had stood at 66.9.
9.
8. Census tracts 1030417 (Cape Town harbour) and 5010064 (Durban harbour).

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Volume 38, Issue 3
Pages: 449 - 466
Article first published: March 2001
Issue published: March 2001

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A.J. Christopher
Department of Geography, University of Port Elizabeth, PO Box 1600, Port Elizabeth 6000, South Africa,[email protected]
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