Housing areas in South Africa developed along strict apartheid lines separating whites, Asians, coloured and blacks into separate geographical areas according to the group areas act of 1950. For the past years South African cities have been growing at an immense rapid rate. Responsible municipal authorities find it impossible to provide standard services above all to provide housing. The urban immigrants build themselves shelters, lacking all services such as water supply, sewage system or electricity, on the least wanted sites usually at the urban periphery.

Informal settlements are residential areas that do not comply with local authority requirements. They are unauthorized and are located upon land that has not been proclaimed for residential use. They exist because urbanization has grown faster than the ability of government to provide land, infrastructure and homes. Informal settlements are characterized by dwellings that are inadequate, Infrastructure that is inadequate, lack of effective government and management, environments that are unsuitable, population densities that are uncontrolled and unhealthy and they are areas of increasingly high risk with regard to health, fire and crime