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Township Connection

Synopsis of this Site

This site provides an introduction to our community, Philippi Township, Cape Town, South Africa.  It will help you learn more about us and how we live our daily lives. We have taken a number of photographs to show different aspects of life in Philippi. See especially our Philippi Life Style photos page.

In our History of Philippi, we answer questions like: When was Philippi was established? Who established it? Why it was established?  In Philippi News, we share articles written about our community in the local newspapers and will soon feature articles written by reporters for Township Connection and other Philippi residents.

     Would you like to know how Philippi's economic development is progressing? About our environmental problems? How we travel from point A to point B? Where we go to school? How we entertain ourselves? Then this website is definitely the place to come! 

We hope this site will 

• Help people from around South Africa and the world know more about our special community

• Make a record in words and photos of the development of our township

• Build pride in our township

• Contribute to improving the quality of life in Philippi by documenting and suggesting improvements for the social, economic, and environmental challenges we face

• Give an outlet to Philippi residents to share their creativity in poetry, journalism, photography, music, and art

• Provide information and resources for students in our schools

• Provide a model or "template" for residents of other townships to develop their own web sites

And at the end you can read about Luyanda Bolisi and Ayanda Mpu, the people behind the site. If you have any queries, our e-mail addresses are located at the bottom of each and every page.

      We say a special word: "Nkosi!" or "Thank you!" to ThinkQuest for inspiring us to develop this site and to Southern Africa Environment Project (SAEP), Cape Town for providing technical support and encouragement. 

Sport and Recreation

Links

About Us

After the struggle against apartheid in South Africa ended in April 1994 with the first democratic elections, the new government established the "RDP" (Reconstruction and Development Programme) to address the social and economic legacy of apartheid.  One of the main aims of the RDP is to improve the living conditions and raise the level of prosperity in the townships. The RDP assists people from townships who can not afford to buy luxury houses to build their own houses and seeks to improve economic conditions and the general quality of life for those who were denied these opportunities during the apartheid years.  The RDP has been helpful in the development of Philippi Township in many ways.

Philippi has many environmental problems but it also has many wetlands that are beautiful and attractive. The people who live near by the wetlands don’t realize the importance of these wetlands. These wetlands contain oxygen, beautiful plants and birds; because of the littering those plants are demolished and birds are kept away by the bad smell and the unhealthy environment for them. The municipality tries to prevent the littering of these wetlands by using cautions such as “No dumping in this place”, but then they locate waste bins next to the wetlands. Those bins are able to contain less than 50 black bags of garbage, and are collected only once a week.  They get full before the end of the week; then people end up dumping their garbage outside the bins in the wetlands. This is an example of environmental problems facing Philippi residents.

There are different kinds of transport used by the people of Philippi when they are traveling to their daily jobs. They include:

• Metro rail (Rail transport)

• Golden Arrow (Buses)

• Taxis and "Cockroaches" (cabs)

Some residents are fortunate enough to own their own private vehicles, but they are in the minority.  Public transport is very important since most people in Philippi who have jobs must commute to other parts of Cape Town and spend many hours every week in public transport.

In most of the time in township we spend time in sport complexes and other venues watching sports like soccer or listening to the poets doing their own thing, watching drama, and listening township music which is known as Kwaito.  Each and every Saturday there are street bashes, where different people from the township gather to entertain themselves.

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