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Resistance is Fertile

Nestled deep inside the Cape Flats, on the unseen and forgotten side of Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain lies the Philippi Horticultural Area. This uniquely positioned and drought-proof urban agricultural land produces almost 200,000 tonnes of fresh food a year, earning it the title of Cape Town’s food basket. The PHA has been cultivated by small-scale farmers even long before the settler encounter when today’s Cape of Good Hope and the area surrounding it was still known as Camissa – the place of sweet waters. The secret to the PHA’s rich bounty is the water aquifer that runs beneath its 3000 or so hectares, and which contains as much as 30% of the entire city’s water needs.

 

But for nearly a decade, Nazeer Sonday PHA Food and Farming Campaign have been fighting to keep the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Provincial government and housing developers from turning this productive agricultural land and the aquifer beneath it into housing estates. For the underdeveloped Cape Flats, and against the backdrop of the pressing need for affordable urban housing in Cape Town, the battle has been described as one of veggies versus homes. But for Nazeer, who convenes the PHA Food and Farming Campaign, their struggle isn’t at odds with development, but draws deep connections between the struggle for land justice and the struggles for food sovereignty and water security.

 

For Nazeer and the urban farmers of the PHA, the immediate goal is to secure the aquifer, the water and every person who relies on it for their food and for their livelihoods. But for the long term, they hope to be the blueprint for how to strengthen food security and local urban economies by employing regenerative water and land use practices, as well as shortening the supply chain between where food is grown and where it is ultimately sold and eaten.

 

 

For Water For Life – The water podcast tells the extraordinary stories of ordinary people who have made it their life’s mission to preserve, purify and protect South Africa’s water resources. This podcast series is made possible by JoJo – for water, for life.

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