Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, is one of the largest. But Hani's death and the painfully slow negotiations between the ANC, the ruling Nationalists and the other interested parties are sapping the patience of people in Khayelitsha. Hilda Sithole, an ANC Women's League organizer in Khayelitsha, bears this out. He was killed because the authorities said he urged people not to pay their rents,' she said. The boycott is part of the general protest about the appalling housing conditions.
Poor housing is just one of the problems for the squatters.
Another is the lack of jobs. Less than half the inhabitants have regular paid work, in textile and other factories, in the harbour, as domestics or seasonal workers on the fruit and wine farms inland. Many young people of Cape Flats are reported to be addicted to the narcotic Mandrax. The ANC, if it becomes the majority in the new government, will be unlikely to fulfil the very high expectations of its supporters in the squatter areas. Delivering them fast enough will be difficult for any government inheriting apartheid's lopsided legacy of preferential treatment for whites.