ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the politics around settlement upgrading in Imizamo Yethu through two sets of lenses. The first, is the lens of developmental and informal governance, demonstrating the divergent logics of these forms, and the different ways that residents engage with governance. The second, is the different meanings of being and belonging in Hout Bay expressed by contending groups in contests over settlement upgrading in Imizamo Yethu. These notions of belonging, framed in terms of race, party, and nationality, are illustrated through three contests linked to upgrading: the 'battle of the green belt', the protest against the Disa School, and the resistance to super-blocking in Dontse Yakhe. The chapter deals with a moment of protest against informal settlement upgrading after the 2017 fire and that is the protest in November 2011 against the opening of the Disa Primary School. The chapter discusses settlement upgrading in Imizamo Yethu in terms of both the contending logics of developmental governance and informality.
