Mitchell's Plain, Cape Flats

It was laid-out as an Area for Coloureds and erected to house the middle income group, about 30 years ago! Parts of it quickly deteriorated into little more than ‘urban ghetto's’ - a description so often applied to these ready-made slums erected by former Apartheid rulers to separate Whites from other race Citizens.

Mitchells Plain lies about 20 kilometres from the City of Cape Town at the end of a brand new railway line, just West of Langa. Mitchell's Plain is one of fifteen areas identified as high priority for action against crime and drug abuse - renowned for its gangster-ism and tik addiction among its youth. Many families relocated here from District Six when it was razed to the ground, and although violent gangs are a way of life, Mitchells Plain in no way resembles the Informal Settlements that line the N2.

Today Mitchell’s Plain Houses almost a Million Residents from a diversity of class and backgrounds. It is Economically divided into East and West - the Western half of Westridge, Rocklands and Portland's is wealthier than the Eastern half of Tafelsig, Beacon Valley and Eastridge.