Introduction

Consider these events in Cape Town in 2009:

• • Gugulethu: A gleaming new mall is built in the township approximately 20 kilometres from the city centre: the developers are interested in attracting black middle-class clientele to the area. However, this means that the local merchants, many of whom had traded in the area for more than a decade, are displaced far from Gugulethu's best trading sites.

• • Central Business District (CBD): Right before the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the central city is rejuvenated. However, the facelift involves moving the poorest people away from the area and transferring them to distant temporary relocation areas (TRAs) in which they face exceedingly difficult circumstances.

• • Woodstock: This charming old area in central Cape Town is looking better by the day. The services in the area cater for an increasingly exclusive class, and the housing prices are soaring. Many families who have been residing in the area for decades can no longer afford to stay there. Some of these destitute residents try to take action against landlords, who want to evict them in order to develop their homes into upmarket flats.

These events can be labelled gentrification, as they involve the movement of middle-income people into low-income neighbourhoods, thus causing the displacement of all, or many, of the pre-existing low-income residents (Lees et al, 2010, p xvi). According to gentrification literature from the Global North, the process involves some level of reinvestment, social upgrading, landscape change and displacement. While all these signs are present in Cape Town and other South African cities, the public justifications of, and discussions and disputes about, these processes differ greatly from those employed in the Global North. Furthermore, the material and social conditions often differ completely.

The developers building the Gugulethu mall lean on revolutionary imagery and proclaim the racial upliftment of the people. Despite the ensuing evictions, the FIFA World Cup is supposed to bring glory to all (South) Africans and thus unite the nation(s).