Umlazi — the KZN township haunted by rampant nightly gunfire and morning-after body count

Communities in Umlazi deal with high levels of unemployment and poverty in one of the murder and rape capitals of South Africa.

The streets of Umlazi teem with people — even during the week. The reason is the area’s high levels of unemployment and poverty and the social challenges that come with that. It’s one of the murder and rape capitals of South Africa.

In previous elections, the area was a battleground between the ruling ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party , with the ANC winning outright, and most wards in the township in the hands of the ruling party. “People don’t have water, people are tired of crime and they want change. We are busy doing door-to-door campaigning and everyone we meet says they will vote MK. I am certain that we are going to win the majority of votes here because people love the MK party and they love Zuma,” Cele said.

Shopping malls in Umlazi — Mega City, KwaMnyandu and Philani Mall — were looted and gutted. All of them have since been refurbished and reopened, but some of the jobs lost then never returned.Thokozani Msomi , whose family has lived in the same matchbox house in M Section for decades, said the township had changed significantly, especially in the past 30 years since the end of apartheid.

Sbusiso Mhlangu, a 60-year-old lifelong resident of K-Section, agreed, saying that after the July riots there had been an increase in killings and violent crime in the township. “There are many instances when drug dealers plan a hit on their rivals and they often find them in the company of other people and they shoot everyone on the scene.

There are also areas in the township, such as the BB Section, where homes are valued in the millions and whose plush homes would not be out of place in any well-to-do suburb in South Africa. Some of these luxurious homes sit side by side with tumbledown shacks.

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