Umlazi was built in the 1950s as an African township to house African labourers, many of whom were needed to work in white-owned industries in the South Durban industrial area.

Housing development in Umlazi includes both formal houses and large single-sex hostels, many of which are located in "Section T". Informal settlement areas such as Malukazi developed even before the Umlazi township. Since the mid-1980s, the number and size of informal settlements have increased.

The area was racked by political and criminal violence during the mid 1980s and early 1990s. Protests erupted in Umlazi in August 1985, sparked by the assassination of human rights lawyer Victoria Mxenge outside her home in Umlazi.

Through periods of greater and lesser violence after that time, the KwaZulu homeland administration, the police, and Inkatha supporters, on the one hand, and ANC supporters on the other maintained a tense co-existence. Tension and violence continued after South Africa's first democratic election in 1994.

Umlazi's "Section T" is the site of the landfill where most of the hazardous wastes from Durban's manufacturers and throughout the KwaZulu-Natal province were deposited. There were ongoing problems with this site, including foul odours affecting schools in the area and leaching of toxins into the groundwater. In 1996, as a result of a campaign of many years by residents of Isipingo, Umlazi, and later the SDCEA alliance, the landfill was closed. It has not yet been rehabilitated, however.

Read Extended Version

In HTML

In Rich Text Format

(Rich Text Formula can be read by both Microsoft Word and Corel Wordperfect. If you want a printable version, use this format)