Dunoon, Cape Town

Dunoon is a large township situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The first erf for Dunoon was surveyed in 1996. As formal housing was built, shacks mushroomed.[2]

Dunoon
Dunoon Show map of Western Cape Dunoon Show map of South Africa
Coordinates: 33.819°S 18.540°E / -33.819; 18.540
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Main Place	Bloubergstrand
Area [1]
• Total	0.99 km^2 (0.38 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	29,268
• Density	30,000/km^2 (77,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	89.3%
• Coloured	5.6%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	0.2%
• Other	4.9%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Xhosa	64.7%
• Afrikaans	7.1%
• English	6.7%
• Sotho	2.9%
• Other	18.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	7441
PO box	7438

Dunoon is near the Killarney Motor Racing Complex, and its neighbouring counterpart is Joe Slovo Park. The township has no police station; the nearest one is in Milnerton. In 2011, the population of Dunoon was 31,133 and the number of households in Dunoon was 11,496.[3] The main form of transport for Dunoon residents is the minibus taxi, and the MyCiTi bus service has recently opened a bus station to serve Dunoon.[4]

On the opposite side of Potsdam Road from Dunoon is an informal settlement called Site 5. Site 5 consists of a group of shacks. Dunoon has also been known for its participation in Xenophobia demonstrations.[5]

Schooling and Education

Dunoon has three primary schools and one high school: Dunoon Primary School, Sophakama Primary, Silverleaf Primary and Inkwenkwezi High School.

Health services

The City of Cape Town opened a day hospital that has been operating since 2016. The City has officially opened a temporary clinic in Dunoon[6] in conjunction with the Western Cape Provincial Government in order to provide better primary healthcare services to residents in the area.

The clinic offers services such as reproductive health advice, HIV counselling and testing, TB treatment and screening, and anti-retroviral treatment, among others.

Developmental plan for Services, Upliftment and Amenities

For matters concerning Dunoon and its upliftment, the City of Cape Town is the planning authority.

This body has been working to resolve the pedestrian problem on the N7 in the Dunoon Environs. The toilets and water standpipes have been removed from the road reserve, and the fence is repaired on a regular basis to discourage people from entering the N7 road reserve. Safety matters and the dangers of crossing the N7 have been discussed with the Dunoon community.

No footbridges have been planned, as people have shown a propensity for selecting the shortest route, regardless of danger.

The proposal to offer a safe crossing alternative involves lifting the N7 by approximately 2.0 metres over a section of the N7 to the north of Richwood, between the future Blaauwberg Road and Potsdam Interchanges, so that street links can be constructed at ground level to link the properties abutting the N7. The design process is underway, but it will take approximately 12 months before construction can commence.

The current interim safety measure involves upgrading the existing Agricultural Underpass as an alternative N7 crossing for the Dunoon community. This has been a long process, as it requires the relocation of houses, as well as the removal of people living in the Agricultural Underpass. This upgrade was to be completed by early 2018.

Protest action

SA National Defence Force (SANDF) troops deployed on the Cape Flats arrived in Dunoon in Cape Town on Tuesday, 1 October 2019 to carry out "targeted operations" against crime in the area, where disgruntled taxi operators had been leading violent protests for days.

Protests in the area and the nearby Joe Slovo Park simmered for days, with cars being stoned, roads barricaded, bus stations targeted and at least one bus and a truck set on fire.

The protest was the result of a standoff between some taxi bosses and the city council, which refuses to budge on demands for allocated transport routes and the scrapping of fines.

Calm returned to the township of DuNoon after a combined force of the army and various police units conducted a search and seizure operation. A large column of SANDF armoured personnel carriers, ambulances and military police lined up in a MyCiTi bus lane next to two burnt-out bus stations.[7]

COVID-19 de-densification

The Western Cape Human Settlements Department began talking to residents of Dunoon on 23 April 2020, about plans to de-densify the area to help curb the spread of COVID-19. The department said that its Rapid Informal Settlement Support and Upgrade Programme would assist with social distancing.

To make the de-densification work, the provincial government will provide temporary accommodation for 10,000 residents. [8]

2020 Arson Attacks

The City of Cape Town experienced a surge of arson attacks targeting MyCiTi bus infrastructure on 21 June 2020, putting further strain on an already-overtaxed public transport system.

As South Africa attempts to revive its economy following a prolonged period of lockdown, the public transport system has been hit by a wave of protest and destruction.

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member of Transport, Felicity Purchase, condemned the attacks, which have decimated public transport infrastructure in Milnerton and Dunoon. Purchase confirmed that a weekend of attacks on Cape Town buses has cost the city in excess of R8 million. Two MyCiTi buses were completely gutted by flames. The Omuramba station in Racecourse Road, Montague Gardens was also set alight.

The area was since swarmed by law enforcement. Purchase condemned the destruction of public infrastructure, saying:

“This weekend marks one of the worst in the 10-year history of the MyCiTi service, with violent attacks on assets and infrastructure in the Milnerton and Dunoon areas. This is nothing less but sabotage of the worst possible kind, and in a time of crisis when COVID-19 is challenging our resolve like never before.”

The ongoing unrest in Dunoon, ostensibly linked to a lack of service delivery and contentious land grabs, has plagued the area over the past year. Earlier this month, a ward councillor — who spoke out against a criminal syndicate that was allegedly responsible for selling plots of land — was the subject of an arson attack. According to security guards at the scene, petrol bombs rained down on the councillor’s office on Youth Day.

Dunoon ward councillor Lubabalo Makeleni said, "The people that are burning the offices are the same people that are burning the drugs, but I've not yet met them. I still want to find out where they want to put up a shack so that we can go to them and talk to them."

Western Cape South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk confirmed that the area had been inundated by acts of violence and arson. Van Wyk noted:

“Sporadic incidents of public violence are currently taking place on Potsdam and N7 due to a dispute of allocation of housing.” [9]

References

1. "Sub Place Dunoon". Census 2011.
2. Cooper, Adam (October 2009). "'Let us eat airtime': youth identity and 'xenophobic' violence in a low-income neighbourhood in Cape Town" (PDF). CSSR Working Paper No. 263. Centre For Social Science Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-29. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
3. "2011 Census Suburb Dunoon" (PDF). City of Cape Town. July 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-10. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
4. Dunoon stop launched 1 March 2014 | News | MyCiTi
5. "SA violence spreads to Cape Town". 23 May 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
6. "City opens temporary clinic in Dunoon". capetown.gov.za. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
7. Meyer, Dan (1 October 2019). "SANDF deployed to Dunoon in crime crackdown as taxi protest continues". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 1 April 2020.