Bekkersdal is located at the West Rand of Gauteng Province, within the jurisdiction of the Westonaria Local Municipality, in the West Rand District Municipality. Bekkersdal was created as an area to accommodate migrant workers that worked in the surrounding mines. Due to the growing mining industry and perceived opportunities for employment, in the early 1980’s the township experienced rapid development. The shortage of developable non-dolomitic land within the West Rand compounded the influx problem. Around seventy thousand people are currently settled in the Bekkersdal informal settlement, outside the formal township boundaries.
Bekkersdal’s infrastructure was designed for a limited formal settlement. However, the rapid growth of the Bekkersdal informal settlement exerted an unanticipated pressure on existing services. This over-burdening of services played a major role in the urban decay and an increase in social ills caused by the uncontrolled influx and the decline of the mining sector.
With the decline in the mining sector since the early 1980’s, the over-reliance of the West Rand on the mining sector meant that drastic steps needed to be taken to ensure that the economy is diversified and enhanced, and to ensure the sustainability and continued existence of Bekkersdal.
There has been an increase in poverty, unemployment and crime. The present situation is that twenty per cent of households have no income. Sixty per cent of households earn less than R1 000 per month. A high percentage of people are dependant on social grants and various forms of social assistance.
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| The road to Bekkersdal |
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History of Bekkersdal
The Bekkersdal township was founded in 1945. Bekkersdal was established as a mining community, and, as was the trend in years gone by, it did not really form part of an existing town. It was developed as a formal community with all the social amenities, transport facilities (e.g. taxi rank) and business activities needed by its residents.
As the mines in the area closed down, unemployment grew and more people moved into existing townships. Not only were backyard shacks erected in Bekkersdal proper but an entirely new informal township was established towards the west of the existing township. Recently, informal settlements developed west of Bekkersdal Proper, between its western boundary and the Donaldson Dam. The mentioned tracts of parkland located on the western boundary of Bekkersdal Proper, also became squatter areas, mainly because it was not utilised for any other purpose. This land thus became a Transition Zone, between the formal residential areas of Bekkersdal Proper and the informal settlements located on its western boundary. This Transition Zone comprised both formal and informal uses and generally represented land use chaos.
Apart from illegal squatting, the informal settlements also affected the social amenities provided in Bekkersdal Proper. These amenities were initially intended for the formal population only and were designed accordingly. Now it is used for the informal settlements as well, numbering four times that of the total formal population (see Table below). Consequently, the social amenities became overloaded and could not function as planned.
| Settlement |
Census 1996 |
IDP 1998 |
BURP 2004 |
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Houses |
No. of People |
Houses |
No. of People |
Houses |
No. of People |
| Informal |
13 447 |
44 676 |
8400 |
50 400 |
9032 |
26 283 |
| Formal |
1200 |
4800 |
1800 |
9000 |
1695 |
7485 |
| Backyard Shacks |
2351 |
7806 |
5000 |
30 000 |
3668 |
10 600 |
| Total |
16 998 |
57 282 |
15 200 |
89 400 |
14 395 |
43 568 |
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Total Population (2004)
Source: Naledi Development, 2004
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Another area of concern was the manner in which the activity node structure of Bekkersdal had developed. Economic activity became fragmented and spread over the entire urban landscape, resulting in the CBD losing its community focus. This is also partly due to the inappropriate design and development of the CBD.
Some estimates indicate that the informal part of Bekkersdal is home to about 14 500 people. This is problematic as the dolomitic ground conditions make the informal area unsafe for residential use.
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| Residents of Bekkersdal |
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Where is Bekkersdal?
Bekkersdal is located on the ‘West Rand’ of Gauteng within the jurisdiction of the Westonaria Local Municipality. It lies approximately 5km north of Westonaria, 14km south of Randfontein and 15km west of Soweto (Map 1). Functionally, it is most closely associated with Westonaria, for this is the primary shopping and employment area of Bekkersdal households (both formal and informal).
The primary access roads to and from Bekkersdal connect to the R28, which connect it to Westonaria and the N12 in the South and Randfontein in the North. Bekkersdal is located within a transportation corridor, stretching along the R28, from Krugersdorp in the north to Westonaria in the south (Map 1 Inset).
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