Tin House in Gamalakhe Tin Town


Tin House in Gamalakhe Tintown in Margate

If you've seen Neill Blomkamp's movie District 9, the tin house above should be familiar. Indeed, the slum that housed the alien prawns is similar to the Gamalake township in South Africa, down to its purported "temporary" nature.

John Gore of 360 Cities wrote:

“This is a typical Tin House after which this area of Gamalakhe township got its name: Tin Town. Originally erected as temporary housing for these displaced people, these tin houses have become permanent residences for over 20 years. This home owner has been fortunate enough to now have a brick house as well, but the old tin structure is still used as a residency.”

The poverty is palpable - the spartan house has bare walls and floor, and as far as I can tell, open windows (no glass panes). Yet, it's not completely devoid of technology though the choice of what appliance to have is strikingly logical: a refrigerator. (Compare this to the poor in United States where 91% own color TVs!)


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Hi Alex, glad you found my 360 of this Tin Town shack useful. :)

This really is how many people live in South Africa.

Its not all bad though, if you look in the back corner of the room you will see a bucket, where this guy was brewing his own "Zulu beer". Very popular in South Africa!
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Holy eff, the color tv! Why, the have COLOR tv in them prisons! Has anyone seen a black and white tv for sale in the past twenty years? And poor people have cars? When's the last time you saw public transportation heading down gravel back roads? You cannot make one-for-one across-the-board comparisons of wealth or living standards. Every country is different, every region of every country is different. I have seen some homes in the US that could easily be described as Third World-esque.
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