Flamingo Heights is an informal settlement in Lansdowne, a southern suburb of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
The settlement was established in 2014 by the City of Cape Town to accommodate the homeless people who lived at the Lansdowne train station by what was then the City’s “Vagrant Unit”.
However, some residents of Flamingo Heights had already been living there, on land owned by the City of Cape Town, since 2005.
According to residents, by 2024, Flamingo Heights had more than 100 homes and an estimated population of 400 people. Roughly a quarter of the population in the informal settlement are children.
The predominant race of the settlement is the Coloured People and the majority of the people living there are unemployed.
Initially, the settlement lacked basic services, residents had chemical toilets and only two standpipe taps for the entire community. Most of the structures were in a bad state, there was serious flooding whenever it rained, and there were no roads, so emergency services could not come through. Ambulances had to wait on the road outside the settlement and then the patient would have to be brought.
In 2014, Flamingo Heights, which lies behind the business hub in Lansdowne on the Cape Flats, was “reblocked” by the City of Cape Town, reconfiguring the shacks into neat clusters and creating roads between them so that emergency vehicles can easily gain access.
Re-blocking made the settlement much safer because the iron shacks were painted with fire retardant paint, making them fire-proof from the outside.
Flamingo Heights is currently different from most informal settlements because it has wide paths between shacks, and each home has a flush toilet and running water, sanitation, and electricity connection.
Flamingo Heights also has a no-fee crèche called Little Paradise, which caters to about 25 infants and children up to the age of six. The crèche is funded by the founders who also provide food for the children, some people have also been generous in donating old toys.
Despite all the improvements made to Flamingo Heights, residents still face problems that include electricity outages, blocked drains, and rats.
Residents say the City of Cape Town used to provide residents with pills to kill the rats but they stopped a couple of years ago, and now residents have to kill the rats themselves.
Over the years the drug trade in the area has grown, with gangs like the Yakkies and the Back Streets vying for control.
The Yakkies were one of the first gangs to operate in the area in 2007. Two years later, the Back Street gang set up camp in Flamingo Heights and a turf war broke out, it ended with the Back Street gang wiping out the Yakkies. Now some of the Back Street members live in Flamingo Heights to keep an eye on their drugs and keep rival gangs out.
Criminal elements also come into Flamingo Heights from neighbouring Hanover Park.
Stray dogs are a problem in the settlement, with some being used as currency in fights and to breed fighting dogs.
Flamingo Heights residents can also report crimes to SAPS Lansdowne on 021 700 9000 or the City’s emergency number 021 480 7700 or 107 from a landline.
