ABSTRACT
The popular interpretation of the growth of squatter camps on the Witwatersrand is that it is the direct result of recent immigration from the rural areas of South Africa's ‘homelands’. Evidence from surveys conducted in 1990 (Crankshaw 1990) does suggest that this road to ‘Egoli’ (the place of gold) is becoming an increasingly significant cause of squatting. However, up until very recently, squatting on the Witwatersrand has generally been the result of natural urban population growth in the face of a chronic housing shortage, low wages and high unemployment. This is true for most of the free-standing squatter camps that have become established on vacant land adjacent to formal townships. For example, surveys conducted in 1988 and 1989 amongst squatter communities adjacent to Alexandra and Soweto and in white urban areas reveal that the vast majority of squatters were either born on the Witwatersrand, or had lived there for at least a decade (Crankshaw 1990).
