The homeless in historical context

Abstract

This article puts homelessness in South Africa in a historical context. It relates contemporary homelessness to changing political, economic, agrarian, domestic and gender matters, and suggests that homelessness is more a manifestation of problems in these areas than an issue in its own right. The article is based on interviews in rural, small town and urban environments in the provinces of Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng. These reveal the isolation and lack of social networks amongst the homeless people interviewed, and the extensive presence of homelessness not just in cities but also in small rural centres.

Keywords:

• homelessness
• history
• oral testimony
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

This work forms part of the Human Sciences Research Council's 2005–2008 study of homelessness. Funding from the National Department of Social Development, the Human Sciences Research Council, the Gauteng Department of Social Development and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

¹Names of individuals have been altered.

²Inkatha is a political movement with a largely Zulu power base that clashed, often violently, with the ANC during South Africa's political transition in the 1980s and 1990s.