Presentation of my community

Back Round & History

The Meadowlands Zone 11 was a men hostel before it was change to family house units. The Zone 11 as it was a hostel in the early sixties it was for male migrate workers in a “bungalow” style with 16 people sharing one bungalow with a kitchen/dining room and four bedrooms. The facilities for group of bungalows were provided in a free standing toilets blocks. The hostel was original planned to accommodate 10316 single males. In 1977 there were floods in Kliptown area then the families were affected by floods were accommodated in Meadowlands Hostel and the city council decided to subdivide the bungalows into house the affected families. At present there are 3 444 families residing in Meadowlands Zone 11. The present standard single bungalows have been subdivided into 5 families units each being 15 meter square in size.

No census has been taken which would indicate the level of employment within the area or the ability of residents to pay for services, housing etc. In year 2002 the Meadowlands hostel community decided to change the Meadowlands Hostel name into Meadowlands Zone 11 because it was no longer a hostel but a family unit houses.

The Key People of Meadowlands Zone 11

Ø The local Council
Ø The Traditional Authorities (Izinduna)
Ø The Local Churches
Ø The Football Teams
Ø The Taxi Owners
Ø The Community Members (women, men, youth) and children
Ø Jiba Technology & Internet cafe

The Geographic of the Community

The Meadowlands Zone 11 is divided into 1-4 phases, the first phase was renovated in 1994 and the people from the community worked in the construction, the second phase was renovated in 1998 and in 2002 the third phase was renovated all this construction programs the council used the community members for contracting the area Meadowlands Zone11 have 3 444 households + new 45 houses different from the other houses which all have running water and electricity. The households are two rooms’ houses with a bathroom in all the renovated phases (1-3) and for the fourth phase are still going to be renovated.

Meadowlands Zone 11 is located in the northern part of Soweto near Kilaney, Mzimhlophe and Meadowlands Zone1. The Zone 11 area is about 16.8098 Morgan or 528600m². It had 5 football fields but now there is only one field left because the council has build houses in the 4 fields at the moment (June 2008) the construction is on process.
Zone 11 have three main entrances the Sputnik Garage, Carr street and at the Gate. Near the gate there is an Ekuthuleni/Kgotsong Recreation center where my organization (Sizanani) is situated on a container, Local municipality office, Post office boxes, Eskom pay point, the church of Nazareth, five shops with dry cleaner and the Rock of Salvation Church office.

Within the area there is no school; most children travel to Mzimhlophe and Meadowlands Zone1 the neighboring areas as is less than a kilometer and some go far places as they can afford for transport. In the community there is one Crèche and 4 informal Crèche for day care during the parents went to work or at school as the community is affected by a high rate of teenage pregnancy. There is one tar road and all the streets are gravel. The community has ±135 selling points (tuck shops) also with 2 taverns for members would like to enjoy themselves.

The crèche

The Demographic of the Community

As the area was created for 10316 single males and the place was change into family house units the population of Meadowlands Zone 11is now estimated at ±25 000 people. The area is now overpopulated compare to its original plan as single house unit has 5 people in a two room house. The most community members have created more space for themselves and the put shacks at the back of the house.

The Zone 11 community is a black community dominated by Zulu people then followed by Sotho speaking people then other tribes follow the Tsonga, Xhosa, Pedi and Tswana are likely to be equal. There are foreign people within the community from Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique and less than 10 people come from central African countries. The most of the community communicate in Zulu as it is a popular language even in the neighboring areas.

Meadowlands Zone 11 is led by the local Councilor and Izinduna (traditional authorities). The Councilor is Mr. Zithhulele Dlamini an IFP leader and a ward 40 PR (assistance) Councilor who is a leader assisted by the Izinduna who lead people from their home town as the community came for work . There is an Induna for even people from outside the country. Each area from KwaZulu Natal, Polokwane, Mpumalanga and other Provinces. The task for these Izinduna is to control its people from wrong doing like fighting, stilling and other acts that can cause friction between community members.

The Summary of the Historical Events of the Community

In 1991 before the release of the South Africa former President Nelson Mandela from Robben Island the area started violence even the neighboring areas were affected by the violence of ANC against IFP. The two parties were killing each other, saying the place should be an ANC territory and others saying it should be an IFP territory, the violence continue until it changed into Zulus classified as IFP and the others as ANC then the violence was Zulu against Xhosas & Sothos. It took the Zulu people who were ANC to be IFP because of them being labeled as IFP. Many people died at ± 786 deaths most of the deaths were Xhosa and some were Sothos. Those Xhosa & Sotho people who survived the violence ran away from the area. The fight ended before the 1994 election because of the peace agreement from both parties IFP & ANC. All the nations are back and the place has peace. On the 28th July 2007 (Saturday) the community had a strike to plead to the city of Joburg Mayor Mr. Amos Masondo and to the provincial government for the area to be developed as is it the only area behind with development in the northern Soweto, because the mayor said it is an area dominated by IFP and the city won’t build for IFP’s. The community blocked the Soweto high way and the Mzimhlophe railway station until the city of Joburg called the leader in a meeting and gave them budget for a construction project of 136 million rand.

The needs of the community

The most need of the community is housing as the community is overpopulated due to the birth and the increase number of new residents. The city is now trying to build more houses to change two rooms into four rooms. In the community there is also a high rate of unemployment, the construction project has employed the community of Meadowlands Zone 11, and the poverty is alleviated with the organization Sizanani as it have three projects the OVC, HBC & Poverty alleviation. The OVC program has a dropping centre for children undergoing school as they come in the morning for breakfast & lunch boxes, after school for lunch then supper and take super boxes. Those who have chronic illnesses and the aged are being taken care by the HBC program, that monitor those who take medication and do bed bath if is needed. The poverty alleviation program focus to the youth that is struggling form poverty depending on the problem and it has a support group for HIV/AIDS infected and affected people. The OVC & Poverty alleviation programs are founded by the Department of Social Services. The HBC program is founded by the Department of Health. There are other NGO’s who donate to the organization like Hollard Foundation, Save Africa children and etc.


The additional information of the community life

The community pays the services from R18 – 74 .00 a month in the local city council office. There are 12 soccer teams in the community and they have their own football league but they are not taken into consideration because they still classified as teams from hostel. The clinic was taken from the community to Mzimhlophe because the ward40 council said people in ward 40 don’t feel safe coming in a hostel for health assisted. Most of the men in the community are in the taxi industry as taxi drivers and taxi owners. Other community members work in the firms at Florida a place next to the area that has lot of firms. Other families survive on the grants that they get from the Department of Social Services and with help from Sizanani

The community has a high rate of teenage pregnancy and some children are affected by sexual abuse that might be caused by the high number of men than women in the community also with the small space in the households. There is a high rate of people living with HIV/AIDS. The people use public phones and cell phones as they don’t have landline phones.