Joe Slovo Park 4.26

Joe Slovo Park is a suburb of Cape Town, located between Milnerton and Montague Gardens.HistoryJoe Slovo Park is a small township which was designed to replace the shack settlement of Marconi Beam with an orderly working-class suburb. However it is now barely distinguishable from the informal settlement it was meant to replace.One section of Joe Slovo Park is known as Mshini Wam, named after the struggle song Umshini wami which was often sung by Jacob Zuma in the run up to his election as president. It was founded in 2006 when it was erected in an open space ringed by formal RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses. Mshini Wam was plagued by fire and flooding. A re-blocking process was started in 2012 which will provide access to emergency services.It was named after Joe Slovo, the anti-apartheid activist and former South African Minister of Housing.It is not to be mistaken with Joe Slovo (in Langa, Cape Town).Geographic DistributionIt is a mixture of fixed houses and shacks next to Montague Gardens in Milnerton.Joe Slovo Park is near Canal Walk an upmarket shopping centre among some of the areas found in Milnerton.ControversiesThere is great pressure from people wanting to build structures on open pieces of land. In October 2012 this led to protests when the City's Land Anti-Invasion Unit arrived to pull down structures built on city owned land.