Western Cape Reports Sharp Rise in Road Fatalities
News
Aug 13, 2025
The Railway Lines of Apartheid: How Colonial Infrastructure Cemented Modern Segregation
By Globalza
Cape Town's spatial inequality was designed by 19th-century British mining interests—and never redesigned.
The Diamond Railroad Divide
When British colonizers built railways in the 1870s to transport diamonds from Kimberley to Cape Town's ports, they created an economic corridor that still dictates opportunity today. The maps show it clearly: Black townships cluster where the railroads didn't go—areas deliberately excluded from development under the 1913 Natives Land Act.
Modern 'Economic Corridors' Repeat History
Contemporary urban planning continues prioritizing the same colonial routes. Cape Town's Atlantic Corridor (following the old diamond railway) receives 73% of new infrastructure investment, while Khayelitsha—home to 400,000 Black residents—gets 6%. The result? A 2025 World Bank study found commute times from townships to jobs along this corridor average 3.1 hours daily
Who Benefits from 'Heritage'?
Districts like Sea Point now market their 'historic railway charm' as a luxury amenity. Meanwhile, Nomzamo's lack of transport links—a direct legacy of British land policies—is framed as 'urban sprawl.' This isn't neglect; it's apartheid by another name
