Racial desegregation and inner city decay in Johannesburg

In the declining years of apartheid, the high-rise district of Johannesburg's inner city underwent rapid racial desegregation. This period of desegregation saw, for the first time in over 50 years, the re-emergence of overcrowded slums in the inner city. This study explores the relationship between the origins of inner city decay and the dynamics of racial desegregation. The results show that the decay of inner city apartment buildings had little to do with racial desegregation per se. Most black residents who braved apartheid laws to live in the inner city belonged to more-or-less the same social class as, and lived under similar conditions to, their white counterparts. Inner city decay, characterised by overcrowding and the breakdown of basic services, was restricted to older apartment buildings which were occupied by the least skilled and poorest black residents. The vicious cycle of overcrowding and poor maintenance that led to the decay of certain apartment buildings was probably the result of the unstable set of tenure relationships which characterised these older apartment buildings. These relationships were: (i) the desperate need for housing among this homeless and impoverished class of blacks, (ii) the high costs of maintenance coupled with low returns on older buildings, (iii) the financially insecure positions of some landlords and (iv) forms of ownership which allowed landlords to neglect their properties without incurring financial losses to themselves.