While South Africa is very beautiful, there are many places throughout the countryside that are covered with shanty towns, informal townships, like those shown below. There are thousands and thousands of people living in these conditions.. Some of these villages arose before The Change in 1994, when apartheid officially ended. The towns were created because people moved from rural areas toward cities in an effort to find work or to keep their families together when one of the adults had a job far away from home and could not get home every day. Some informal towns do not have electricity, some do not have running water except at common spigots located at various outdoor sites throughout the shanty town, many are not particularly safe. The inside of most of these homes resemble the insides of more orthodox houses with real beds, pictures on the walls, clean sheets, etc. The government has made a start on removing these towns by building real houses, albeit very small ones very close to each other, but at least with electricity and running water, sewer, trash pickup and windows.
Outside a large city such as Cape Town – it stretches into the horizon.
Outside smaller cities at least is not so crowded.
And some places, some housing has been built to replace the shacks.
There is a long way to go.
Geezers On The Go 